Ubuntu Forums - Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter http://ubuntuforums.org/ en Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:35:14 GMT vBulletin 60 http://ubuntuforums.org/images/misc/rss.jpg Ubuntu Forums - Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter http://ubuntuforums.org/ Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #179 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1400955&goto=newpost Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:01:20 GMT Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #179 for the week January 31st - February 6th, 2010. In this issue we cover: Open source industry veteran Matt Asay joins Canonical as COO, Lucid Translations now open, Ubuntu Developer Week Re-Cap, Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS Maintenance release, Lucid Ubuntu... Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #179 for the week January 31st - February 6th, 2010. In this issue we cover: Open source industry veteran Matt Asay joins Canonical as COO, Lucid Translations now open, Ubuntu Developer Week Re-Cap, Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS Maintenance release, Lucid Ubuntu Global Jam Announced, Project Awesome Opportunity, New Ubuntu Review Team: Reviewing bug with patches, Jane Silber Interview, Dustin Kirkland Interview: Encryption in Ubuntu, Nicaraguan LoCo Team's Third Anniversary, Report on Launchpad down-time of 4th Feb 2010, January Team Meeting Reports, and much, much more!

UWN Translations
  • Note to translators and our readers: We are trying a new way of linking to our translations pages. Please follow the link below for the information you need.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeekly...r/Translations

In This Issue
  • Open source industry veteran Matt Asay joins Canonical as COO
  • Lucid Translations now open
  • Ubuntu Developer Week Re-Cap
  • Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS Maintenance release
  • Lucid Ubuntu Global Jam Announced
  • Project Awesome Opportunity
  • New Ubuntu Review Team: Reviewing bug with patches
  • Jane Silber Interview
  • Dustin Kirkland Interview: Encryption in Ubuntu
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • Nicaraguan LoCo Team's Third Anniversary
  • Report on Launchpad down-time of 4th Feb 2010
  • The Planet
  • In the Press & Blogosphere
  • January Team Meeting Reports
  • Upcoming Meetings & Events
  • Updates & Security

General Community News

Open source industry veteran Matt Asay joins Canonical as COO

Canonical Ltd. announced this week that open source industry veteran Matt Asay has joined the company as chief operating officer (COO) -- responsible for aligning strategic goals and operational activities, the optimization of day-to-day operations, and leadership of Canonical marketing and back-office functions.

Most recently VP, Business Development for Alfresco, Asay has been involved with open source since 1998, and is one of the industry's leading open source business strategists.

“As more companies and people are embracing Ubuntu for their day-to-day computing, we felt it critical to bring in a person who knew not just open source, but has a long experience in making Linux relevant to businesses and users alike,” said Jane Silber, current COO and upcoming CEO, Canonical. “We think Matt brings to Canonical the perfect blend of industry, executive and community savvy.”

http://www.ubuntu.com/news/matt-asay-coo-canonical

Lucid Translations now open

We are pleased to announce that Lucid translations are now open. You can
now go to: http://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu and start doing your rocking job to translate your favorite distro as usual. There are some further notes listed in the announcement concerning Priorities, OpenOffice.org, Language packs, and Firefox. Please visit the link below for information on these added notes.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ub...ry/003240.html

Ubuntu Developer Week Re-Cap

Here is a recap of the very successful Ubuntu Developer Week that just ended. Logs of each presentation are available at the links below so that you can catch up on any session you missed. Thanks to all who participated and a special thanks to all the presenters for a fantastic job!

Monday

1. Getting Started with Ubuntu Development: we had a great start in the first session, between 300 and 400 people attended it and we were able to resolve lots and lots of questions around the initial steps of developing Ubuntu. Check out the log if you want to start your journey too. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...001/GetStarted
2. Fixing small Ubuntu bugs: I simply love these sessions. Nothing is as powerful as the realisation that you can really fix a bug and really get it fixed for millions of users. One of the small bugs we discussed yesterday was fixed in Ubuntu Lucid today. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...1/FixSmallBugs
3. Django: Dave Walker gave an excellent session about Django. If you ever think “I need some kind of website”, make sure you read the session log and try it out yourself. Judging by the really sharp questions that Dave got we can expect more Django sites coming up soon. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/devweek1001/Django
4. Working on the Bleeding Edge: I’m very glad that Kees Cook gave this session because one of the most frequent questions of new Ubuntu Developers is “Do I need to run the current development release? Won’t that break my system?”. Kees gave very good advice to stay sane and avoid problems on the “bleeding edge”. He also uploaded a presentation about the topic. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...1/BleedingEdge
5. Server oriented packages: Mathias Gug was up next and talked about the specifics of server packages: firewall rules, apparmor profiles, init scripts, etc. If you like servers, read the log and talk to the Server Team. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...001/ServerPkgs

Tuesday

1. Java libraries packaging: in four easy to understand examples Thierry Carrez explained how to deal with java libraries and how to make them build in the Ubuntu way. He managed to give a good overview of the current state of Java packaging, so let’s hope we see an increase in good quality java packages in the near future! https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...k1001/JavaLibs
2. Adding support for Ubuntu One to your applications: the wonderful Stuart Langridge was up next and showcased how simple and easy it is today to work with DesktopCouch as a data backend. His talk was full of nice examples so it should be easy for you to hook up your application with Ubuntu One. If you weren’t in the session, make sure you read the log. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...1/AddUbuntuOne
3. Internationalizing your application with quickly and Launchpad]: David Planella and Didier Roche are experts in their respective fields: Didier put a lot of work into Quickly and David knows almost everything about internationalisation and translations. Together they delivered a great show of how to easily make translated apps happen. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...01/I18NYourApp
4. Getting your applications in the panel: Ted Gould did a great job of explaining why the panel currently can get a bit crowded, what’s the plan in lucid and what you can do to make applications fit into the new scheme. It’s pretty easy to work with the new application indicators, so have a look at the log and talk to the Ayatana people about it! https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...ppsOnThePannel
5. Automated server testing: Last of the day was Søren Hansen who talked to us about automated server testing, test suites and server-specific testing. Be sure to read the log to understand how this amazing technology works and what it has to do with the number of your favourite pizza guy. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...utoServerTests

Wednesday

1. Writing good test-cases: this was a top-notch talk by John Arbash Meinel. Not only did he give a fantastic overview of today’s state of the art of proactively testing software, but also did he dive into the theory behind it and managed to get across a good feeling for what to bear in mind when writing test-cases. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...001/WriteTests
2. Launchpad Translations under the hood: amazing work by Adi Roiban and Henning Eggers. The talk covered quite well how translations work, which tools are used and how Launchpad makes use of all of this to become this fantastic translations platform. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...01/LPTranslate
3. Getting Started with EC2: this great talk by Scott Moser was well-researched and full of information about the Cloud, how it works, its importance and why to try it out. If you didn’t attend the session be sure to check out the log. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/devweek1001/EC2
4. Developing and Testing in KVM: Dustin Kirkland was next and talked about one of the key players in virtualisation land. He covered what KVM is about, how it works and how to use it. Check out the “KVM hacks” section! https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/devweek1001/KVM
5. Python Applications Packaging: Luca Falavigna did the last talk of the day and even spent a bit more than the regular hour to talk the audience through the prodecude of packaging Python applications. Seems like we need to add SABPDFT to the glossary from now on… https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...001/PyAppsPkgs

Thursday

1. Adopt-an-Upstream: Jorge and I had a great time giving this talk. It’s incredibly important for Ubuntu to have good and healthy relationships to other projects. During the session we gave an overview over adopting an upstream, what to bear in mind, why to do it and how it fits into the bigger picture of Ubuntu development. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/.../AdoptUpstream https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Upstream/Adopt
2. Kernel patches: Next up was Leann Ogasawara who rocked the house talking about patching the kernel, how the Kernel team works, how to get involved and how to get help. There was loads of questions and lots of interst. Let’s see how many new kernel hackers we’ll have soon! https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/.../KernelPatches
3. Getting more detailed bug reports: QA mastermind Brian Murray shed more light on one of his favourite tools: apport. What’s great about reporting bugs with apport is that it will get a lot of useful information from your system like the version number of the package, which kernel modules were loaded, etc. This eliminates a lot of bug question ping-pong. The best thing about it is though that it is easily extendable. Read the session log to find out how you can get more specific information for packages you’re interested in! https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/.../DetailingBugs
4. Bazaar and packaging: Jelmer Vernooij did a fantastic talk about Bazaar, Launchpad and Ubuntu/Debian packaging and why they go so good together. In a couple of easily understandable examples he showcased very well how to use them and why they make working with packages so much easier. Awesome! https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...001/BzrAndPkgs
5. How to get started hacking Launchpad: Ever wanted to fix a bug in Launchpad or improve it somehow? Be sure to check out the log of Karl Fogel’s session. It’s much much easier than you think to get from Getting Launchpad to Having contributed to it. Thanks Karl https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/devweek1001/HackLP https://dev.launchpad.net/Getting https://dev.launchpad.net/Contributions

Friday

1. Writing Beautiful Code: this session unfortunately had to be canceled as Paul Hummer couldn’t make it. We’ll definitely repeat the session soon and I’ll let you all know about it.
2. Doing merges right: an excellent session by Colin Watson. How changes make it from Debian to Ubuntu, how to get the most out of using Bazaar for the merging, how to deal with merge conflicts, etc. It all gets so much clearer after attending the session. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...01/MergingCode
3. Meet launchpadlib: if you have a project that needs data from Launchpad, check out Jonathan Lange’s session about launchpadlib. He uses a nice little example to explain how best to go about gripping into Launchpad’s brain and extracting data from it. In the most cases you should be done really quickly and launchpadlib incantations mostly just add a few lines of code to your project. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...1/LaunchpadLib
4. KDE/Kubuntu Junior Jobs/Papercuts: Mackenzie Morgan and Lydia Pintscher replaced Celest Lyn Paul in this session and they gave a fantastic overview how to get started helping out with KDE and Kubuntu. Read the log and start helping out! https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...1/KDEPaperCuts
5. Interpreting stacktraces: the last session of the day and of UDW was led by Emmet Hikory. He talked about reading stacktraces, tips and tricks how to use gdb, and covered enough background to help you figure out why a particular crash happens when you investigate it the next time. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/...1/Stacktracing

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDeveloperWeek

Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS Maintenance release

The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS, the fourth maintenance update to Ubuntu's 8.04 LTS release. This release includes updated server, desktop, and alternate installation CDs for the i386 and amd64 architectures. Ubuntu 8.04 LTS continues to be maintained through 2011 for desktops and 2013 for servers through online updates, but this is the final maintenance release of 8.04 LTS.

In all, some 70 updates have been integrated, and updated installation media has been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation. These include security updates and corrections for other high-impact bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS.

To download Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS, or obtain CDs, visit:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

We recommend that all users read the release notes, which document caveats and workarounds for known issues. They are available at:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/804

Lucid Ubuntu Global Jam Announced

Announcing Ubuntu Global Jam! March 26th – 28th, 2010

In the last few cycles we have organized and run an event called the Ubuntu Global Jam. The idea was simple: encourage our awesome global Ubuntu community to get together in the same room to work on bugs, translations, documentation, testing and more. And they did, all over the world, as can be seen here.

To make the event as simple and accessible as possible, we have picked five topic areas and we are encouraging you lovely people to organize an event with one or more of them:
  • Bugs – finding, triaging and fixing bugs.
  • Testing – testing the new release and reporting your feedback.
  • Documentation – writing documentation about how to use Ubuntu and how to join the community.
  • Translations – translating Ubuntu and helping to make it available in everyone’s local language.
  • Packaging – packaging software for Ubuntu users to install with a clock.

With five primary methods of getting involved, there is something for everyone in this rocking global event. In this event we are also adding an Upgrade theme too: upgrading to Lucid from Hardy or Karmic and reporting your upgrade experience.

One thing that we are keen on everyone remembering is: you don’t have to be an official developer, packager or programmer to take part in the Ubuntu Global Jam. Also, lets not forget that Ubuntu Global Jam events are a fantastic place to learn and improve your skills: you can sit next to someone who can show you how to do something or explain something in more detail. If this is all sounding right up your alley, and you fancy organizing an event, visit the following two links on the wiki.

Rock and roll: let’s make this one to remember. Start your engines, folks…

UPDATE: We have scheduled some regular meetings every two weeks in #ubuntu-meeting on Freenode to discuss the Ubuntu Global Jam, provide a place to ask questions and get together as a community to make the most out of the event and awareness of it. These meetings are on the Fridge Calendar: http://fridge.ubuntu.com/calendar

http://www.jonobacon.org/2010/02/01/...jam-announced/

Project Awesome Opportunity

In the continued interests of making Ubuntu a rocking platform for opportunistic developers, today we formulated the plan for Project Awesome Opportunity. The goal is simple: build an opportunistic development workflow into Ubuntu. You will install one package from Universe and your Ubuntu will be hot-rodded for opportunistic application development, making development more fun and more accessible for a glorious itch scratching smackdown.

At the heart of the project is Ground Control by Martin Owens and Quickly by Rick Spencer and Didier Roche. Jono has been thinking about the challenges of how we build a great first incarnation of a platform optimized for opportunistic developers, and it struck him that we should divide the first set of tasks into three broad areas:
  • Creating a Project – we need to help opportunistic developers ramp up as quickly as possible: they feel the itch and they are ready to scratch right away.
  • Collaborating on a project – it should be really simple grab code, create a contribution and submit it to the project.
  • Fixing a Bug – bugs are at the heart of software projects, and we should optimize the bug fixing process making it a doddle for opportunistic bug fixing developers to grab some code and make it work.

A key part of this workflow which Jono designed this week is the "Fixing a Bug" component, and this is something he is really passionate about the team trying to deliver in the Lucid time frame. This is not a formal project that his team is working on, this is something that he is focused on in his spare time and coordinating with Ground Control author and rock star, Martin Owens.

For this feature to flourish and for us to rock the socks off opportunistic developers everywhere, we are going to need your help, particularly with testing and where possible bug fixes. Here are the main ways in which you can help:
  • Fixing Bugs – Martin is largely a one man band on this project and he needs help fixing Ground Control Bugs. If you are interesting in helping, see the bug list and get involved. He will love you and Jono will sing your praises.
  • Testing – Testing is critical to this project. We have a tight timeframe on this, so we need you to help. How do you test? Simple, grab the daily PPA of Ground Control set up by the awesome Nathan Handler, test it and report bugs.
  • Moral Support – Martin Owens is doctormo on Freenode. Ping him and tell him he is awesome. He and I hang out in #ubuntu-community-team: buy him a virtual beer.

So that is the goal. Let’s see if we can rock it and fire up more opportunistic developers. Get all the information at the link below.

http://www.jonobacon.org/2010/02/04/...e-opportunity/

New Ubuntu Review Team: Reviewing bug with patches

The Ubuntu Review Team has been created in an effort to address the volume of unfixed bugs with patches. Brian Murray has written a launchpadlib script that will subscribe the new team to any bugs with patches where the patch has been added after Feb. 1st. Depending on the throughput of that queue and the success of it, the team will then start subscribing to older patches. You can look over the bugs the team is currently subscribed to here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-r...subscribedbugs

The team is also setup with a mailing list for receiving bug mail. By subscribing to the mailing list you will receive notification of these bugs with patches. The process for handling these bug reports is being documented (its a work in progress as we encounter different types of bugs) in the Ubuntu wiki.

Please help to make Ubuntu even better by reviewing these patches and adding them to the proper queue for sponsoring!

http://www.murraytwins.com/blog/?p=64

Jane Silber Interview

Amber Graner's interview with Canonical's new CEO Jane Silber originally appeared in Full Circle Magazine and was added to The Fridge this week. Jane found some time during the transition COO to CEO to answer a few questions.

Jane discusses the joint goals of Canonical and Ubuntu as well as the individual goals noting that one of those common goals is making Ubuntu the most widely adopted free software platform.

She is asked about whether there is going to be a new R&D team lead by Mark Shutteworth since Shuttleworth will now be concentrating on product design and development. The short answer is no, but she does explain how the R&D process works within Canonical and Ubuntu.

Jane also talks about the transition from COO to CEO and what challenges there are? She notes in the interview that dramatic strategic change is not to be expected that she and Mark [Shuttleworth] are in agreement as to the current strategy.

In this interview Jane also discusses the following:
  • From some cursory searches on the web in referencing women CEO’s for OSVs (operating system vendors) Amber could not find a long or readily available list of women, it would seem you are blazing a trail and raising the bar, how does that feel?
  • Do you see yourself as a role model for other women not only in the Ubuntu Project but in Open Source as a whole?
  • As a strong leader and role model within the Ubuntu Community do you now or have you ever participated in FOSS projects or groups specifically created to encourage women? If so can you tell us a little about them? If not can you elaborate on why?
  • As the transition to CEO should be complete by March 1st , 2010, does this mean you will be announcing the -M name or will that still come from Mark? You will be opening UDS-M as the new CEO, have you thought about how you will inspire and encourage and keep the excitement and energy levels from undulating and remain steady and constant during UDS?
  • At UDS-L Amber had the opportunity to interview Mark about Canonical’s enterprise strategy, what is your strategy? She asked him specially when he named 10.04, Lucid Lynx, referring to a clear-minded, thoughtful, predator. She now wonders if that describes you and your plan of execution in taking on the enterprise market with this LTS release?

To find out the answers to these questions and more visit The Fridge at: http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/1977

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats
  • Open (76455) +85 over last week
  • Critical (38) -2 over last week
  • Unconfirmed (39307) -89 over last week

As always, the Bug Squad needs more help. If you want to get started, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

Translation Stats Karmic

1. Spanish (10862) -133 over last week
2, French (41803) -465 over last week
3. Brazilian Portuguese (44495) -10 over last week
4. Swedish (65963) -46 over the last week
5. English (United Kingdom) (56551) -6719 over last week

Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala", see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/karmic/

Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week

Ubuntu Brainstorm is a community site geared toward letting you add your ideas for Ubuntu. You can submit your own idea, or vote for or against another idea. http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/

LoCo News

Nicaraguan LoCo Team's Third Anniversary

José Ernesto can't hardly believe that the Nicaraguan Ubuntu LoCo Team is arriving to its third anniversary, and as celebration party we will be running a Hacklab at the Instituto de Informática y Sistemas of Monseñor Lezcano, Managua, the next Sunday, February the 7th starting at 10:00 am.

At this moment, we have scheduled the following activities: Leandro Gómez will show us how he edit the POSOL with Audacity, Marcelo Gutiérrez will share some tips on installing an running Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Alpha 2, Luis Landero will talk about RAID-1 and I'll be showing Lernid and possibly testing it in Fedora with the help of Neville Cross, Nicaraguan Fedora Ambassador.

The POSOL team will be recording the fifth episode of the podcast during the event and there is a new section for the english speakers.

http://josernestodavila.blogspot.com...niversary.html

Launchpad News

Matthew Revell: Report on Launchpad down-time of 4th Feb 2010

If you visited Launchpad between 13.30 and 15.30 UTC yesterday (4th Feb), you’ll have seen that Launchpad was largely unavailable.

Since then, I’ve spoken to quite a few people who use Launchpad regularly and I want to say thanks to everyone for your patience while we fixed the problem. As we all use Launchpad for our own development, we know just how painful unplanned down-time is and we’re sorry for the disruption to your work.

I’d like to explain what happened, how we fixed the problem and what we’re doing to avoid a similar situation in future.

As you’d probably expect, we run more than one database server for Launchpad. There are two master databases and then slaves, which are copies of the masters. The master databases replicate constantly to the slaves.

When Launchpad makes a read-only request, such as fetching the title and description of a bug report, we can reduce the load on the master databases by fetching that data from one of the slaves. However, to ensure the data you see is up to date, each time Launchpad is about to fetch data from the slave database, it checks how long it has been since the last replication from the relevant master database. If, for whatever reason, the replication wasn’t recent enough, Launchpad will instead grab the data from the master database.

Yesterday, it was this check that was taking far longer than expected and so causing the problems that you may have seen. We were able to implement a temporary fix, to bring Launchpad back online, by directing all database queries straight to the correct master.

In the longer-term, we’re going to overhaul the way that Launchpad checks the freshness of the data in the slave databases. Rather than checking each time a query is made, Launchpad will check once every so often and cache the result, meaning that this problem shouldn’t arise again.

Thanks again for your patience.

http://blog.launchpad.net/general/re...f-4th-feb-2010

The Planet

Shane Fagan: Indicator and me menu, lucid looking awesome

Ive been testing out lucid since a little before alpha 1 and all is well from what I can see. What landed recently was the me menu and I have say that its cool. I love the idea of posting to twitter on the fly from the desktop rather than waiting for Gwibber to load up(which takes a good 20 secs on my machine). Oh and the new version of Gwibber from the daily ppa looks awesome. Some extra things to look forward to is the new indicators, an improved software center, Pitivi and the music store. I cant wait to try out the music store which should land alpha 3(ish) but what songs should I buy…? Screenshot of the "Me Menu" available at the link below.

http://shanefagan.com/2010/02/06/ind...oking-awesome/

Chuck Frain: Columbia Area Linux Users Group Feb 11th Featuring Jonathan Riddell and Justin Kirby

This coming Wednesday, February 11th is the next Columbia Area Linux Users Group meeting in Columbia, MD at the offices of Tenable Network Security.

Jonathan Riddell will be opening with his talk entitled “Kubuntu Community and Technology”. He will talk about the Linux distribution Kubuntu who makes it and the tools used.

Jonathan works for Canonical and started Kubuntu five years ago.

As long as Jonathan keeps to his contract and doesn’t do his Leno impression he’ll turn over speaker responsibilities to Justin Kirby*.

Justin will be presenting his talk “Making the leap from KDE user to contributor”. Justin will discuss simple ways for KDE users to become contributors, even without knowing a thing about developing code. His talk will provide specific details about various teams that exist within KDE, what you can do to help them out, and who to talk to if you have questions.

Justin Kirby is an active contributor to the KDE Promo team. He has been a user of KDE for about 3 years but more recently got actively involved in giving back to the community in July of 2009. You can learn more about the KDE Promo team on their wiki.

So join us at the Tenable offices at 6:30pm for pizza, wings and soda supplied by Praxis Engineering followed by the talks starting at 7pm.

http://www.chuckfrain.net/blog/2010/...ell-and-kirby/

Melissa Draper: International Women’s Day Competition

There’s only something like 2 and half weeks left for the women of all ages in all parts our community to tell us how they discovered Ubuntu for the International Women’s Day Competition.

That means that you really ought to get a move on!

The process is easy:

1. Women and girls email us (address and rules in announcement) a description of how they discovered Ubuntu. Whether it was at school, work, from a partner or because they were sleep-computing and woke up to the sound of drums — whatever!
2. In just over 2 weeks time, we put up the stories and let the community vote for their favourite
3. On March 8th, the favourite is declared, and we make Jono earn his keep by announcing it and drawing the second surprise winner from a hat on his ustream channel or vidcast or whatever it is kids call that funky video stuff these days.
4. Two lucky ladies get a share of some loot that includes bags, tshirts, magazines, books and other fun stuff

Help spread the word by telling all the women you know who use Ubuntu and by hitting up digg and /.

http://www.geekosophical.net/?p=423

Sense Hodstede: Do something good for the world, adopt a package!

Have you always wanted to do something good for the world, but did you never know what to do? Here is your chance: adopt a package[1] and help making Ubuntu rock where you want it!

Every day a lot of new bugs are reported on Launchpad, adding to the number of open bugs reported against Ubuntu. Currently there are 81259 open bugs in Ubuntu, of which 43775 are in the ‘New’ state. This means that roughly 54% of all open bugs in Ubuntu are not or were barely touched and when this post will have been published the number is already larger. When handling such large numbers of bug even the omnipotent BugSquad can’t keep up. How can we make sure the important bugs don’t get lost in this superabundance of support requests for writing good defect reports?

If you’re working with something — in the case of Adopt-a-Package an application — you like, you’re more productive. If you work on something you can keep an overview of, work is easier. This is what Adopt-a-Package purports. You choose an application you’re familiar with, or particularly fond of, and focus on getting it into shape on Launchpad. What does this mean? A small list:
  • Triaging previously untriaged[2] — ‘New’ — bugs
  • Making sure no bugs are forgotten
  • Moving Confirmed bugs to Triaged[3]
  • Forwarding bugs upstream[4]

There are several ways to tackle the adoption. If you would like to adopt something as big as GDM[1] you’ll have a hard time if you’d try to do it all on your own, unless you have a lot of spare time. In such cases it’s better to form an AdoptionTeam and attack the bugs together with some other people. Smaller applications like ‘gedit‘ can be handled by one person, although it largely depends on your personal preferences and the amount of time you’re able or willing to spend on triaging. Of course you could always look for an existing group to join. As a matter of fact, I’m still looking for some more people to help out with Nautilus.

Adopt-a-Package is thoroughly explained on its wiki page, and it is that page you should use as your primary source of information. On this page you find a list of currently adopted applications and applications that we’d really like to see adopted. When you decide to adopt an application, whether you do it with a group or on your own, please check this page first to make sure you’re not duplicating efforts. After you’ve made up your mind about what you’re going to adopt, please add your name and the application to the list and notify the BugSquad maillist.

Are you interested but still have got some questions now you’ve read this? Don’t hesitate to leave a comment or drop by in the #ubuntu-bugs IRC channel. Also, in March there will be two sessions about Adopt-an-Upstream in #ubuntu-classroom, one by me at 4 March on 17.00 UTC and one by Jorge Castro at 18 March on 23.oo UTC. You can find them listed in the Ubuntu Classroom schedule.[5]

[1] - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad/AdoptPackage

[2] - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/HowToTr...triaged%20bugs

[3] - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/HowToTr...nfirmed%20bugs

[4] - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/HowToTr...ing%20upstream

[5] - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Classroom#Schedule

http://qense.nl/do-something-good-fo...dopt-a-package

In The Press

The Top 7 Best Linux Distributions for You

Brian Proffitt of Linux.com says that there are various approaches to answering the question of which Linux distribution is best. The broad answer is: "any of them," but that's not very helpful if you're just looking for a place to start. To help users discover the Linux distribution that's best for them, this resource will definitively list the best candidates for the various types of Linux users to try. The use-case categories will be:
  • Best Desktop Distribution
  • Best Laptop Distribution
  • Best Enterprise Desktop
  • Best Enterprise Server
  • Best LiveCD
  • Best Security-Enhanced Distribution
  • Best Multimedia Distribution

Proffitt declares Ubuntu the Best Desktop Distribution because its development team is constantly focused on the end-user experience. Canonical and the Ubuntu community have spent a lot of time and resources on bringing ease-of-use tools to this distribution, particularly in the area of installing Ubuntu and installing applications within Ubuntu. Note: Ubuntu Studio won for Best Multimedia Distribution. Follow this link to see which distributions Proffitt ranked in the other categories.

http://www.linux.com/learn/docs/ldp/...utions-for-you

Ubuntu advances: Why Ubuntu server installations will surge in 2010

IT World's James Gaskin notes that while desktop Ubuntu shines as the leader among Linux distributions, with analysts estimating their share up to 95 percent of the Linux desktop market, Ubuntu's server version lags. Expect huge advances in Ubuntu server installations during 2010 as a result of Ubuntu improvements, customer concern as SunOS comes under Oracle control, and restlessness among the Red Hat user base. Unlike Ubuntu server clients, Red Hat server clients must pay license fees, necessary because many applications remain Red Hat specific. Troy expects the Ubuntu server to make substantial advances attaining more application support and certifications. Follow this link for Gaskin's additional reasons why Ubuntu Server will surge in 2010.

http://www.itworld.com/operating-sys...ill-surge-2010

10 Kernel Vulnerabilities in Ubuntu 6.06, 8.04, 8.10, 9.04 and 9.10

Softpedia's Marius Nestor reports that Canonical announced the immediate availability of a new Linux kernel security update for the following Ubuntu distributions: 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake), 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron), 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) and 9.10 (Karmic Koala). The update also applies to Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu and it patches 10 important security issues discovered in the Linux kernel packages by various hackers. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to update your system as soon as possible!

http://news.softpedia.com/news/10-Ke...0-134162.shtml

OpenOffice dropped from Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.04

Digitizor.com tells us that according to the latest Ubuntu Netbook Remix Blueprint, the Ubuntu community have decided to drop OpenOffice from the default installation of Ubuntu Netbook Edition for the upcoming Lucid Lynx release. For now, documents will be opened by default in Google Docs. The developers have been removing applications that are irrelevant on a netbook. While document editing is clearly a not irrelevant on a netbook, the developers feel that with netbooks being used mostly for internet related works, Google Docs will suffice.

http://digitizor.com/2010/02/05/open...edition-10-04/

Dustin Kirkland Interview: Encryption in Ubuntu

Slo-Tech interviews Dustin Kirkland, is an Ubuntu Core Developer who is working for Canonical on the Ubuntu Server. Kirkland's current focus is developing the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud for the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS release, but previously he has worked on a number of Ubuntu features and packages, including Ubuntu's Encrypted Home Directories. Kirkland is also the upstream maintainer of eCryptFS, the cryptographic filesystem used to provide Encrypted Home Directories. Slo-Tech talks to Kirkland about the design and inner workings of eCryptFS, and touches briefly on Ubuntu One. Click on the following link to read the interview.

https://slo-tech.com/clanki/10008en/

In The Blogosphere

Help The 'Ubuntu Welcome Tour' Project

OMG!Ubuntu, discusses the "Ubuntu Welcome Tour' Project. This article takes note of how the idea for a "Welcome Tour" with an introduction and orientation became stalled. It is noted that there is an "introduction" to Ubuntu that plays during the installation. OMG!Ubuntu points out that Ubuntu User Brian Voidal believes that that and an interactive desk top tour is an idea worth reconsidering and has begun creating a framework for a "tour". To gain perspective on why this is important, readers are asked to "Put yourself in the position of someone who has just booted up Ubuntu for the first time." It's about making users feel more comfortable. According to OMG!Ubuntu, "The idea is a sound one, and if you'd like to help Brian Vidal is looking for help."

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/02/h...d+(Omg!+Ubuntu!)

Ubuntu Lucid "Aero" style* GTK postponed to Lucid+1

OMG!Ubuntu article in Dec. '09 reported on "a super-duper enhanced version of GTK+ that adds RGBA support (think Windows Aero) and client side window decoration," being added to Lucid. In this article they give us the update: all this awesomeness is being postponed to Lucid +1. OMG!Ubuntu notes that "This isn't really a great surprise as there were many applications that wouldn't play nice, bugs were spouting out here and there and, lets face it, Lucid is all about the stability factor"

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/02/u...d+(Omg!+Ubuntu!)

Canonical picks open-source leader for COO

Computerworld Blogger, Steven J. Vaugh-Nichols, talks about Matt Asay being announced as the new Canonical COO. Vaugh-Nichols writes "As the COO, Asay's job will be make sure operational activities match up to the company's strategic goals and make sure that day-to-day operations go smoothly. He will also head up Canonical's marketing." He also point's out that, "Asay is extremely well known and respected in open-source business and technology circles." With references to how great a fit Asay will be to Canonial and the Ubuntu Vaugh-Nichols states, "I agree. I think Asay will help Canonical a great deal. He has the knowledge, expertise and energy that's needed to take Ubuntu from being the darling of Linux fans to also being a popular business operating system choice."

http://blogs.computerworld.com/15546...leader_for_coo

Meeting Summaries: January 2010

Ubuntu Governance

==== Community Council ====
  • 2010-01-19 meeting
  • no agenda item for 11 UTC meeting
  • Daniel decided to take the wiki licensing item off the agenda as he can almost never make the 21 UTC time and to discuss the agenda item with mdke over email.
  • Developer membership couldn't be discussed because the DMB election is not closed yet.
  • ~universe-contributors is not administered by the CC, so the decision was moved to the TB

==== Developer Membership Board ====
  • Developer Membership Board meeting, 2009-01-05
  • Chair: Matt Zimmerman
  • Review action items from previous meeting
  • mdz to drive election for DMB, based on existing members of TB and MC
  • voting is in progress now
  • persia very much appreciated the second call for votes: something rarely seen in these polls.
  • 77 votes cast out of 146 eligible voters
  • the vote will end in 13 days, 2009-01-18
  • mdz noted that there was not much guidance available on how to conduct the election, some aspects had to be made up as he went (possible Community Council topic)
  • MOTU direction (ScottK, cjwatson)
  • No progress since the previous meeting
  • [ACTION] ScottK+cjwatson to pull joint fingers out and write up proposal
  • Next meeting
  • The next meeting will be conducted by the new DMB, based on the outcome of the election
  • cjwatson and pitti agreed to attend that meeting for continuity

==== IRC Council ====
  • IRC Council Meeting 2010-01-31
  • Revisit #ubuntu-ops policies including 'no idling' & +v
  • Will discuss further on public mailing list
  • Should the IRCC members be direct members of ~ubuntu-core-ircops and named channel operators?
  • 0 for, 4 against, 0 abstained. Total: -4
  • Pending CC approval, the following changes were agreed upon:
  • Decisions will be made when a majority of the seated council is in agreement
  • 4 for, 0 against, 0 abstained. Total: 4
  • The Council will have a chairman with a casting vote, elected by the IRC Council every year
  • 4 for, 0 against, 0 abstained. Total: 4
  • Accept the current operator reuirements and probation docs. We will formally review in 4 months
  • 4 for, 0 against, 0 abstained. Total: 4

==== MOTU Council ====
  • 2010-01-08 Meeting:
  • Charlie Smotherman (porthose) was approved as a MOTU.
  • Ilya Barygin (randomaction) was approved as a MOTU.
  • 2010-01-21 MC Call
  • Pending term ends and future of the MC
  • Four of the seven members of MC have terms expiring by the end of the month
  • The DMB has not yet heard, or taken decision on UbuntuSpec:community-lucid-motu
  • It would be difficult to hold an election for roles that are currently undefined, and may have no meaning
  • In light of the current uncertainty, the MOTU Council has resolved (4 votes in favour, 3 abstaining) to cease activities when these terms expire.
  • If the DMB determines that there is a need for a MOTU Council, and delegates the selection of membership in that MOTU Council to the current MOTU Council, a new selection process will be undertaken to fill the outstanding 4 seats.
  • Potential future (or lack thereof) of MOTU Council
  • To better inform the DMB in the decision process, the MOTU Council will present arguments both for and against continuation of MOTU Council

==== Technical Board ====
  • Technical Board meeting, 2010-01-12 (chair cjwatson)
  • Prior action review, leaves the following still to do:
  • [ACTION] kees to follow up with Debian TC on units policy
  • [ACTION] cjwatson to follow up with mythbuntu-dev to get

ubuntu-core-dev added
  • [ACTION] ScottK to update Kubuntu/UpdatesPolicy based on Kubuntu

upstream feedback (cf.

http://techbase.kde.org/Policies/Min...e_Policy/Draft)
  • [ACTION] sabdfl to propose to CC that the TB is a CC delegate, and

clarify his role
  • Units Policy
  • We discussed briefly whether to recommend that developers go ahead

with implementation in advance of feedback from the Debian TC. The

majority of the board preferred to wait for at least a while, since

we've requested feedback and should wait for it, and since the

benefit may not outweigh the cost of carrying another stack of

patches.
  • Check back on status next meeting.
  • When is it a good idea to fail out of a maintainer script?

(MattZimmerman)
  • While there is loose agreement that "something ought to be done"

about this, the technical options are not yet clear enough to decide

something at the TB level. Shelving for the moment; mdz will bring

this up on ubuntu-devel if and when he gets the chance to put

together some detailed options.
  • Execute Permission Policy (KeesCook)
  • After some discussion, the TB ratified this policy

(https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SecurityTeam...Bit%20Required)

conditional on detailed feedback from the desktop team, including

the unresolved question of what happens to existing handlers on

upgrade. Mark's +1 was on the condition that we will have time to

iterate implementation before Lucid or pull it entirely if it

doesn't work out.
  • Check up on community bugs (standing item)
  • The only item already has an associated action.
  • Next meeting is 2010-01-26. Chair: Keybuk
  • Technical Board meeting, 2010-01-26 (chair kees)
  • Prior action review, leaves the following still to do:
  • [ACTION] ScottK to update Kubuntu/UpdatesPolicy based on Kubuntu

upstream feedback (cf.

http://techbase.kde.org/Policies/Min...e_Policy/Draft)
  • [ACTION] sabdfl to propose to CC that the TB is a CC delegate, and

clarify his role
  • Archive reorganisation (cjwatson)
  • persia mentioned that he handled "Update Ubuntu developer and process documentation to reflect changes" task
  • [ACTION] persia to update documentation with anything discovered to be missing
  • Kubuntu/UpdatesPolicy
  • still waiting on Kubuntu upstream
  • Units Policy
  • waiting to hear back from Debian TC
  • Check up on community bugs (standing item)
  • Waiting on update from sabdfl.
  • Next meeting is 2010-02-09. Chair: Keybuk

Ubuntu Development Teams

==== Xubuntu Team ====

Xubuntu team report for January, 2010

This has been our best month ever.

===== Documentation =====
  • Jim has begun work on Xubuntu docs, ported off of Ubuntu docs. The bzr branch is located here (https://code.launchpad.net/~jwcampbe...d-experimental), and will be merged to the current Xubuntu doc branch once stable. Conservatively, this will be ready within the next two weeks.
  • Once that is done, Jim will need help from Pasi to work on the CSS theming and the landing page.

===== Team Governance =====
  • The team met in early January to discuss team governance. A detailed framework was established, but it is not yet finalized. This will require follow-up.

===== General =====
  • The team continue on with the most successful cycle yet. Images are available for both the Freescale iMX51 and Marvell Dove platforms and Lucid is proving to be a decisive release for the mobile teams ARM efforts.

===== Images =====
  • The Freescale iMX51 image is in great shape although it is still missing the new 2D based netbook-launcher-efl UI, but this is expected to land very soon. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the Marvell Dove image. The archive rebuild to gain ARM optimisations has triggered complications and the team continue to search for solutions.
  • The fail to build package list was a focus of much attention this month and is now in great shape. ARM specific breakage is minimal.
  • The team continued to welcome kernel patches by vendors to improve our kernel images with positive results.

===== Blueprint Work =====
  • There was work on the live-cd slowness issues. Jamie Bennett's (JamieBennett) investigative work and early code looked promising although the complete solution was not ready yet. Parallel to this ongoing work with kernel patches and general tiding-up helped to produce a much more pleasant boot process on ARM hardware.
  • A major change to ARM images this cycle is the inclusion of a 2D Ubuntu Netbook Edition styled UI. Based on the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (http://www.enlightenment.org), work was needed to bring several packages into main to meet the dependency issues of canonical's EFL implementation. At times stalling, issues have now been resolved and we should see the default seed change shortly.
  • The archive rebuild to enable Thumb2 has been a mixed blessing. iMX51 images have gained improved performance whilst dove images have at times been completely unusable. This month has seen lots of work trying to resolve issues but unfortunately there is no conclusion as yet.
  • This month also saw Google's Chrome browser building and pleasing most who had hardware to benchmark it. It seems much faster than any of the other browser offerings at this time. Thanks should be directed to Alexander Sack (asac) for his efforts.
  • Ubuntu's community offering for mobile devices, Ubuntu Liquid, saw renewed effort. The team worked closely with the community to help progress this along with the hope that alpha-3 will bring solid results.
  • To complete the improvement in images, Paul Larson's (plars) work on improved test methods was contributing to increased test coverage and it is hoped that the final image will be the most tested yet.

===== Summary =====
  • The team is enjoying a positive and fruitful cycle so far but there is a realisation that much work it yet to be done. There is also a looming issue with archive optimisations that have somehow adversely effected the Marvell Dove platform and a thought that if this cannot be resolved, drastic actions may be need. This takes the gloss off the month's work a little but optimism that a solution can be found is still prevalent.

Ubuntu LoCo Teams

==== Catalan Team ====
  • January 3rd: meeting with Rubén Romero, from Nicaragua LoCo Team in Barcelona.
  • January 10th: new Launchpad team for organization of LoCo activities: ubuntu.cat-org.
  • January 16th: LoCo meeting. Decided the placement for the next release party: València.
  • January 23rd: Install party at Germinal cooperative in Barcelona.
  • January 30th: install party at the Library in Caldes de Montbuï.

==== Colombian Team ====

==== Czech Team ====
  • Team Leader election - new leader is again VojtěchTrefný, congrats
  • Meetings
  • Live Meeting in Prague (16th January) - only ten participants :(
  • Live meeting in Pardubice (5th February)

==== Danish Team ====
  • Started planning the danish release party for 10.04.
  • Will most likely be a 2-day event, the largest the DanishTeam have had so far.
  • Discussing a "release camp" after each release, where we will meet in-person, and discus our planned activities until next release.
  • Started updating our organization's guidelines.

==== Ecuador Team ====
  • First Community foryour 2010.
  • We support the initiation of the nascent Ecuador Debian community.
  • Meeting for create a subdistro called "MINGA" based on Edubuntu, for Ecuadorian education.

==== Irish Team ====

==== Japanese Team ====
  • The serial story on ascii.jp "Ittoke! Ubuntu !DoJo!" runs this year.
  • The serial articles on gihyo.jp "Ubuntu Weekly Recipe" and "Ubuntu Weekly Topics" run this year.
  • We started to advise Minoo City, Osaka prefecture to deploy Ubuntu LTSP environment in teachers' room in public schools.

==== Philippine Team ====
  • Representatives of the team attended the First North Luzon FOSS Conference held at Baguio City, Philippines on January 18 and 19
  • First General Meeting for 2010

==== Russian Team ====

===== Translations =====

===== Resources =====

===== Kuban Team =====
  • We are distributing Ubuntu 9.10 and 8.04.4 LTS as well as repositories for Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS.

==== United States Teams ====

===== US Teams Project =====
  • Held team meeting on January 13th
  • Added two new mentors to the team

===== California Team =====
  • Ubuntu California members handed out pressed Kubuntu CDs at CampKDE (http://camp.kde.org/) in San Diego.

===== Chicago Team =====

===== District of Columbia Team =====
  • Held meeting to discuss the following:
  • Holding Bug Jam's before weekly meetings
  • importing identi.ca streams to the dc LoCoteam wiki page
  • changed IRC channel to #ubuntu-us-dc
  • holding KDE 4.4 release party
  • added our ubuntu hour to wiki page
  • Meetings are now held weekly every saturday at 18:00 local time in #ubuntu-us-dc
  • Ubuntu hour with a bug jam at Taste Of India (http://toidc.com/) at 16:00 local time every week until the 18:00 meeting.

===== FloridaTeam =====
  • Ubuntu Hour Orlando - January (11,18,25) 2010
  • January 29, 2010 Tampa Linux & OSS Meetup Ubuntu Hour

===== New York State Team =====

.:Events:.
  • 20100112 7pm - 9pm cprofitt gave a hands-on how-to demonstration of GIMP RCSI - Rochester Computer Society
  • 20100107 7pm - 9pm cprofitt gave a hands-on how-to demonstration of GIMP Barnes and Noble @ RIT

===== North Carolina Team =====
  • Team meetings to discuss remaining steps to becoming an approved team and establishing a team council

Ubuntu Beginners Team

* Ubuntu Beginners Team Meeting 2010-01-05 (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BeginnersTeam/Meetings/20100105)
  • Channel movements -
  • #ubuntu-beginners-help was redirected to #ubuntu-beginners
  • #ubuntu-beginners-team was created for team discussions
  • ##cabaret was for off-topic chat
  • Votes - excluding channel votes summarized above
  • It was agreed to keep the Stalker Focus Group
  • It was agreed to decide new leads at the next meeting
  • It was agreed to use Launchpad as official member list for FGs and remove wiki lists.
  • Logging of main channel was postponed for more discussion in light of the channel changes
  • It was not agreed to unvoice members of the beginners team in #ubuntu-beginners

Ubuntu Women Team

Ubuntu Community Learning Project
  • Project meeting on January 14th

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Monday, February 8, 2010

==== Security Team Catch-up ====
  • Start: 18:00 UTC
  • End: 18:30 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: nothing formal, just a weekly catch-up.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

==== Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting ====

==== Technical Board Meeting ====
  • Start: 15:00 UTC
  • End: 16:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

==== Desktop Team Meeting ====

==== Kernel Team Meeting ====
  • Start: 17:00 UTC
  • End: 18:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

==== Global Jam Meeting ====
  • Start: 20:00 UTC
  • End: 21:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

==== Server Team Meeting ====

==== Foundation Team Meeting ====
  • Start: 16:00 UTC
  • End: 17:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

==== QA Team Meeting ====

==== Edubuntu Meeting ====

Thursday, February 11, 2010

==== Ubuntu Java Meeting ====
  • Start: 14:00 UTC
  • End: 15:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

==== Ubuntu Mozilla Team ====

Friday, February 12, 2010

==== MC Meeting ====
  • Start: 07:00 UTC
  • End: 08:00 UTC
  • Location: None listed as of publication
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

==== Lucid Weekly Release Meeting ====

Saturday, February 13, 2010

==== Ubuntu IRC Council Meeting ====

==== BugJam ====
  • Start: 21:00 UTC
  • End: 23:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-us-dc and IRC channel #ubuntu-bugs
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

==== DC Loco IRC meeting ====
  • Start: 23:00 UTC
  • End: 24:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-us-dc
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

Sunday, February 14, 2010
  • None listed as of publication

Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10, 9.04 and 9.10

Security Updates

Ubuntu 6.06 Updates

Ubuntu 8.04 Updates

Ubuntu 8.10 Updates

Ubuntu 9.04 Updates

Ubuntu 9.10 Updates

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ ]]> Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter johnc4510 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1400955 Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #178 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1395326&goto=newpost Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:22:44 GMT Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #178 for the week January 24th - January 30th, 2010. In this issue we cover: Contribute with Ubuntu One Bug Day, Lucid changes to Firefox default search provider, Announcement: Ubuntu Server update for Lucid Alpha3, Interview With Ubuntu Manual Project... Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #178 for the week January 24th - January 30th, 2010. In this issue we cover: Contribute with Ubuntu One Bug Day, Lucid changes to Firefox default search provider, Announcement: Ubuntu Server update for Lucid Alpha3, Interview With Ubuntu Manual Project Leader Ben Humphrey, Ubuntu Honduras, Back up old sources from PPA's, Improved Bug Patch Notifications, Getting your code into Launchpad, Ubuntu Developer Week Recap, Canonical Voices, Ubuntu Community Learning Project Update, NZ school ditches Microsoft and goes totally open source, Full Circle Magazine #33, and much, much more!

UWN Translations
  • Note to translators and our readers: We are trying a new way of linking to our translations pages. Please follow the link below for the information you need.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeekly...r/Translations

In This Issue
  • Contribute with Ubuntu One Bug Day
  • Lucid changes to Firefox default search provider
  • Announcement: Ubuntu Server update for Lucid Alpha3
  • Interview With Ubuntu Manual Project Leader Ben Humphrey
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • Ubuntu Honduras
  • Back up old sources from PPA's
  • Improved Bug Patch Notifications
  • Getting your code into Launchpad
  • The Planet
  • In the Press & Blogosphere
  • NZ school ditches Microsoft and goes totally open source
  • Full Circle Magazine
  • Upcoming Meetings & Events
  • Updates & Security

General Community News

Contribute with Ubuntu One Bug Day
  • Date: Tuesday, 2 February 2010
  • Time: 1400-1600 UTC
  • Place: Join us in #ubuntuone on freenode in IRC

Each day Ubuntu One usually has at least one representative from the team dedicated to addressing subscriber questions, participating in IRC discussions, and responding to bugs. A few months ago, we decided that this would be enhanced by the entire team collaborating for a short period of time on open bugs and subscriber questions. We called it Bug Day.

The goal was to reduce the list of bugs in an undecided state. After a few months, we’ve found this to be very useful in addressing open issues and questions, identifying duplicates, elevating the overall knowledge of the entire team and sharing best practices.

Tuesday is the next Ubuntu One Bug Day, and this time we’re going to try something a little different. We would like invite our subscribers to join us. This will be an excellent opportunity to learn more about the Ubuntu One service, improve your skills and assist your fellow Ubuntu community members. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOne/BugDays

http://voices.canonical.com/ubuntuone/?p=198

Lucid changes to Firefox default search provider

This announcement is to apprise you of two small but important changes coming to Firefox in Lucid.

We are changing the default search provider in Firefox to Yahoo! Note that this won't in any way effect the ability of a user to choose and use the search provider of their choice. It's literally 2 easily discoverable clicks to change this setting, a simple matter of switching to that search provider in the chrome by clicking on the icon and choosing the desired provider. Note also that Yahoo! does not share any
personally identifiable or usage information.

Why?

We are pursuing this change because Canonical has negotiated a revenue sharing deal with Yahoo! and this revenue will help Canonical to provide developers and resources to continue the open development of Ubuntu and
the Ubuntu Platform. This change will help provide these resources as well as continuing to respect our user's default search across Firefox.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ub...ry/030065.html

Announcement: Ubuntu Server update for Lucid Alpha3

Last week the Lucid Alpha3 development phase started. So in following our Alpha2 announcement below is what’s on the horizon for Alpha3. Some of these are new blueprints for Alpha3 some are continued work from Alpha2.

Alpha3 Projects

Since the upcoming release is an LTS, a lot of this cycles work is centered around stability. Currently, we’re broadly targeting the following 3 areas:
Software integration
  • Eucalyptus 1.6.2
  • Moving from MySQL 5.0 to 5.1
  • Provide libraries in PHP/Python/Perl for AWS services

Improving our UEC & EC2 experience
  • Integrating Puppet & Etckeeper
  • Provide boothooks & user based configuration

QA & testing
  • UEC tests
  • Automated server tests
  • Bug squashing
  • Apport hooks
  • Daily builds for server packages
  • The Server Papercuts project

There are also a few community driven specs which are targeted for the Lucid release:
  • Asterisk Integration
  • Ubuntu Cluster Stack
  • Ubuntu Server Containers (LXC, OpenVZ)
  • Integration of Amavisd-new, Spamassassin, and Clamav

The full list of blueprints related to these targets and our progress can be found on the server team wiki or on our work item tracker.

Feedback & Involvement

If you have any suggestions for AWS libraries in PHP/Perl/Python or are interested in packaging/contributing a library in another language, please let us know in the RFC thread

To make the most of our Server Papercuts project, please participate in the email discussion and nominate papercuts and/or volunteer to fix them!

To help us track down bugs and crashes better, we’re adding apport hooks to several key pieces of software. If you’d like to implement any of those hooks or contribute your own, please let us know in
the blueprint.

The Ubuntu Cluster Stack spec has issued a call for testing and would love to hear about your experiences.

http://ubuntuserver.wordpress.com/20...-lucid-alpha3/

Interview With Ubuntu Manual Project Leader Ben Humphrey

The Ubuntu Manual Project has stirred up veritable carnival of publicity over the last few months, signifying a huge appetite for such a document within the community. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-manual Here is an interview with Benjamin Humphrey the project leader.

Let's go back to the start: Where did the idea of creating a "beginners manual” come from?

It all started halfway through last year. I had been helping users troubleshoot their problems on the Ubuntu Forums, and I also had a fair few of my own problems with Ubuntu when I started using it for the first time. I quickly learnt to resolve these, and, as time went by, I helped others too. I wrote a bit of Community Documentation, but felt the need to pass my knowledge on to more new users - so I started my blog with that intention. The blog articles then began to be exported into a PDF, which started to take shape as a manual. The project didn't become open for collaboration until late last year when I realized it would be more beneficial to have many people working on it as a team - that way we could cover more stuff and make a better document overall.

Who is the manual aimed at?

Our target audience is new computer users, and users coming from Windows/Mac, who otherwise wouldn't know much about Ubuntu or GNU/Linux in general.

What differentiates the Ubuntu Manual Project from the official documentation, official books, etc that already exist for newcomers?

Content wise, we go into less detail than the documentation and wiki. We aren't supposed to be an all-encompassing Ubuntu bible, like the Official Ubuntu Book. The manual is a free PDF download, it will hopefully be included in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS as well. It will be translated in over 30 languages, possibly available for purchase in print, and also will feature many localized screenshots.

It's more organized than the wiki documentation and easier to access than the forums. It will also be kept up to date with revisions every six months to coincide with the Ubuntu release cycle. We will be pointing readers in the direction of the in-built help, or the wiki help, or the forums if they need more detail on a specific topic.

What areas will the 'manual' be covering?

The manual follows a linear learning curve - it starts with the basics (like an introduction about Ubuntu's philosophy and history), then moves to explaining the desktop, default applications, getting online, installing software and so forth. It's split into two sections, the first half and the second half - we don't even mention the command line until the second half, the "advanced" section. The full table of contents can be found here.

What won’t the manual be going into?

A lot of stuff. As I said above, this isn't an Ubuntu bible - we're not going to have a guide for installing Nvidia drivers on a GeForce 7600GT graphics card, for example. It won't be that specific - we will give you a general idea on how to do something, show you the basics, and then point you in the right direction for more information.

So the big question is – will it be included in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx?

At the moment, we're not sure. I know many people would love to see it on the CD - our research proves that, and my talks with Ubuntu members/key contributors also shows there is a great deal of interest in the project. If everything goes to plan, I think it would be silly to not include a version in Lucid and make it available for download at www.ubuntu.com.

What's working against us is file size. With more than 50 pages, and a whole heap of images, we'll be hard pressed to get it down to a small enough size to squeeze onto the CD. Remember a CD can only hold 700mb - the Ubuntu devs have to fit a whole operating system and several applications onto that. I think we can get it down to a small enough size for it to be included as example content at least, but it's really too early to tell as we haven't even started inserting images yet. If we can't get it into Lucid, I will try to get it included it for 10.10. It will be much easier to convince the desktop team/docs team once we have something to show.

If it does make it into Lucid, where can users expect to find access to the manual? Desktop icon? Menu Entry, etc?

This hasn't been decided yet. While we would love to see it as an icon on the desktop, this just won't happen - the desktop team have a strict no icons on the desktop policy as a "design decision." It will most likely appear in the main application menu, or as an icon on the panel. It will hopefully also be available for download right next to the main download link for Ubuntu on the website.

And just to hedge my bets - How will users be able to ‘find’ the manual if it ISN'T included in Lucid?
If it isn't included in Lucid, we will try to get it on the main Ubuntu website and most definitely in the main repository. We will probably also set up our own website with a download link, and of course it will be available on our Launchpad page as well.

Read the second part of the interview including screenshots of some possible cover designs, a possible change of name for the project and feedback already received about the project at the link below.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/01/i...%28Omg!+Ubuntu

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats
  • Open (76370) -170 # over last week
  • Critical (40) +4 # over last week
  • Unconfirmed (39396) -171 # over last week

As always, the Bug Squad needs more help. If you want to get started, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

Translation Stats Karmic

1. Spanish (10995) -157 over last week
2. French (42268) -1140 over last week
3. Brazilian Portuguese (44505) -232 over last week
4. Swedish (66009) -410 over last week
5. English (United Kingdom) (63270) -4517 over last week

Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala", see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/karmic/

Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week

Ubuntu Brainstorm is a community site geared toward letting you add your ideas for Ubuntu. You can submit your own idea, or vote for or against another idea. http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/

LoCo News

Ubuntu Honduras

Ubuntu Honduras kicked off the 2010 year of activities with a team pizza party where they discussed upcoming events for 2010, and welcomed new members. The team set the agenda for the next 3 months which includes, an Ubuntu presentation at Universidad de San Pedro Sula, and a two hour talk at the T3 conference Escuela Internacional Sanpedrana. The team is also discussing a couple of workshops they hope to have. One for team members to help them gain experience and improve their knowledge of Ubuntu, and the second that they will have at area universities. Pictures of the pizza party are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/elvira.m...PedroSula2010#

http://blog.diegoturcios.net16.net/?p=382

Launchpad News

Back up old sources from PPA's

We’ve been overwhelmed by the popularity of PPAs on Launchpad. In fact, according to our sysadmins, they are a little too popular and now our disks are full.

Full disks mean no more PPAs, and no more uploads to PPAs. We’d like to add some more disks, but we can’t actually do that soon enough for a bunch of complicated reasons.

Instead, we’ve decided that we’re going to remove all of the source files for any uploads that are:
  • in PPAs
  • not published, that is, deleted or superseded
  • have been not published for over seven days

Note that we already delete the binaries for such uploads.

We are going to delete these old files this Wednesday, January 27th. We’re really sorry that we are announcing it so close to the actual event — we know it’s a hassle.

If you want to keep any of these files, you are going to have to download them right now. Here’s how to do it.

1. Go to your PPA’s web page on Launchpad and click on “View package details”.
2. Change the filter to search for “Any status”. Click “Filter”.
3. For each superseded or deleted upload with files you want to save, expand the upload and manually save all the files under the “Package files” heading.

If it’s a busy PPA like the example one, then there will be a lot of old versions to download. If you aren’t sure, you probably won’t need all of them. Ask on #launchpad on Freenode or the launchpad-users mailing list if you are unsure.

http://blog.launchpad.net/general/ac...rces-from-ppas

Improved Bug Patch Notifications

There are a couple of new features related to patch handling in Launchpad bugs this month.

Building on the work we did in December to better distinguish patches in bug pages, we now use an icon to show if a bug has a patch attached in bug listings. Any search on Launchpad will now indicate if a bug has a patch attached. Look for the band aid icons, and you’ll know that a bug has a patch attached.

Also, bug mail notifications have been updated to distinguish patches from any other attachment. Now when a patch is added or removed from a bug the email notification will read “Patch added” or “Patch removed” to make spotting patches easier in email.

These are small improvements to our handling of patches to help patches become more easily spotted on Launchpad. Combined with our work on sorting bugs by a heat number, the Launchpad bugs app is doing more to let users know about the state and quality of a bug report.

http://blog.launchpad.net/bug-tracki...-notifications

Getting your code into Launchpad

Brad has written a great guide to writing and committing your first code for Launchpad.

Amongst other things, he has a useful bullet list that describes the steps between deciding you want to write code for Launchpad and actually seeing your work in place. http://bradcrittenden.net/post/35836...into-launchpad
  • The steps for fixing a bug or adding a new feature in Launchpad are:
  • Find a bug or feature request. The best place to look is on the milestone for the application of interest. (See the list for Launchpad Registry’s 10.02 milestone).
  • Research the problem.
  • Have a pre-implemention call.
  • Grab the latest branch of Launchpad (which we informally call ‘rocketfuel’). You can use ‘rocketfuel-get’ to update your copy of devel and ‘rocketfuel-branch’ to make a branch for your work. It’s best to create a new branch for each chunk of work you do.
  • Write your tests, write the code, repeat. (Read about TDD.)
  • Push your code to Launchpad (‘bzr push’).
  • Create a merge proposal (‘bzr send’).
  • Have a review, fix changes, repeat.
  • Run the tests. At a minimum you should run all the tests for the application you changed. For bugs you can do that with ‘bin/test -vvm lp.bugs’.
  • Submit to PQM.
  • QA the change when it lands on edge or staging.
  • See the change in production when the next release rolls out.
  • Bask in your awesomeness.

http://blog.launchpad.net/general/ge...into-launchpad

The Planet

Daniel Holbach: Ubuntu Developer Week Recap

UDW was another rocking success in terms of getting things done, and having fun doing it. So much was accomplished in such a short amount of time. Thanks to everyone who attended and contributed. You can find daily summaries of what happened at the following links.

If you missed any of the action, follow the above links to catch up.

http://daniel.holba.ch/blog/

Steve George: Canonical Voices

Want to know Canonical’s secret business plan? Or find out the latest features we’re working on in Ubuntu or UbuntuOne? Then hop over to the Canonical Voices site. It’s a blog aggregator that provides a single location for Canonical employees to blog and engage with the wider world.

Many Canonical employees develop Ubuntu directly making them members of the Ubuntu community so their views already appear on Ubuntu Planet. However, there are lots of Canonical employees who work in other areas, such as with OEM’s, or on UbuntuOne, in marketing or with business customers. Canonical voices brings together everyone in the company and provides a single place where you can see the breadth of their views, opinions and thoughts.

As an Open Source technology company we’re working within a variety of communities; sometimes that means an Open Source project, but it could mean a group of users or a set of companies. So it’s important for us to be transparent and to engage in a conversation – encouraging understanding and perhaps sparking interesting ideas. Canonical Voices provides a space for that.

http://slgeorge.wordpress.com/2010/0...conversations/

Elizabeth Krumbach: Ubuntu Community Learning Project Update

The UCLP is attempting to make professional education course materials, because we believe that education is one of the biggest barriers to getting new users and increasing existing users abilities. We are working to develop course material in 5 different segments, How to Use, Maintain, Develop, Spread and Teach Ubuntu. This material is structured in the form of classes that can be taught in real life classrooms, on IRC and/or via our Moodle site. We now have a documented Course Layout for in-classroom classes and Charles Profitt has been working on the Moodle side for online learning.

How do you contribute? First, join the team by swinging by to have a talk to us in #ubuntu-learning or engage us on the Ubuntu Community Learning Project mailing list (you’re also welcome to email me directly at lyz at ubuntu dot com, please do!). We currently have people writing courses in .odt, on the wiki, in bzr using AsciiDoc and in Moodle, so there are a number of ways to get involved now. We also need folks who are interested in doing peer review of the classes.

http://princessleia.com/journal/?p=2481

Eric Hammond: Southern California Linux Expo
  • February 19-21, 2010 at the Westin LAX

The 8th Southern California Linux Expo (aka SCaLE 8x) is a community organized, non-profit event. Those words and the incredibly cheap price might lead you to believe that it is not worth going to, but if this is your first time you’ll be amazed by the size, scope, and professionalism of the event with nearly a hundred exhibits and dozens of informative talks.

Even though you’re not paying hundreds of dollars for the conference fee, it’s still worth traveling to if you’re not in Los Angeles. If you are in LA, then you have no excuse.

Just like last year at SCaLE, I will be leading another “Try-It Lab” where we’ll help folks get started with using Amazon EC2 and Ubuntu Linux. More information about preparation will be posted on the SCaLE web site, so be sure to review it before attending if you’re interested in a hands-on, guided, workshop experience with EC2. The lab seats “sold out” quickly last year, so make sure you get in early.

Deal for readers of Alestic.com: When you register for SCaLE, use the code “ERIC” for 50% off of the listed price. If you sign up today, that gives you a full access pass for a ridiculously low $35. Prices may go up as the weekend gets closer.

http://alestic.com/2010/01/scale-ec2...lanetUbuntu%29

In The Press

Nouveau From 2.6.33 Prep'd For Ubuntu 10.04

Michael Larabel of Phoronix recalls that back in November he shared that Nouveau would finally be pulled into the Ubuntu 10.04 kernel as up to this point Canonical had employed the feature-limited and obfuscated open-source NVIDIA driver known as xf86-video-nv. The plans to switch over to Nouveau with kernel mode-setting support for Ubuntu 10.04 were great, but then in December the Nouveau driver got pulled into the Linux 2.6.33 kernel which complicated matters for Ubuntu as they already were set with using the Linux 2.6.32 kernel for the 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" release. It looks like the Canonical kernel developers have decided to pull the Nouveau DRM from the 2.6.33-rc4 kernel, and the Nouveau KMS code will be pulled in for the next alpha release. More information at the link.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item&px=NzkyNw

Updates Coming For Ubuntu Server 10.04 LTS

Phoronix's Michael Larabel tells us that Canonical's Jos Boumans sent out an e-mail on the Ubuntu development mailing list to outline some of the new plans going forward for Ubuntu Server with the 10.04 release. Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 2 came out just nine days ago, but Jos is hoping to incorporate these new Ubuntu Server changes prior to the Alpha 3 release that is scheduled for the end of February. To be worked on for Ubuntu Server 10.04 Alpha 3 is migrating from MySQL 5.0 to MySQL 5.1, an upgrade to Eucalyptus 1.6.2, PHP/Python/Perl libraries for Amazon's cloud computing platform, integrating Puppet and Etckeeper, boothooks and user based configuration for UEC/EC2, and various QA improvements. For the Ubuntu Server 10.04 release the community also hopes to provide Asterisk integration, an Ubuntu Cluster Stack, Ubuntu Server Containers for LXC and OpenVZ, and integration of Amavisd-new, Spamassassin, and Clamav.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item&px=NzkxNA

Yahoo Pays Canonical, Now They're The Ubuntu Default

Michael Larabel of Phoronix reports that Canonical's Rick Spencer has written about two small changes that are happening to Mozilla Firefox in Ubuntu 10.04. The first is the default Ubuntu home-page with its search box in Firefox will now follow whatever the user has set as their default search engine in Firefox. The second change is that Canonical is changing the default search engine for Firefox in Ubuntu to Yahoo. Google has always been the default search engine in Ubuntu's Firefox, but now it's changing to Yahoo beginning with Lucid Lynx. Canonical is changing the default search path over to Yahoo as the two companies have negotiated a revenue sharing deal off the advertisements when using Yahoo search on Ubuntu. Users can still switch Firefox to using Google search with a couple clicks, but Canonical is hoping this change will yield them some additional revenue.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item&px=NzkyNg

In The Blogosphere

Does Ubuntu Need Server Hardware Partners?

When Joe Panettieri helped launch WorksWithU in 2008, he strongly believed Canonical needed to build strong server hardware partnerships with Dell, IBM and Hewlett-Packard. But as he heard more about Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) in 2009, he realized Ubuntu in 2010 may find a back door into the server market. He still think it’s important for Canonical to work with hardware markers on Ubuntu Server Edition. Pre-install deals and bundling deals would be great. Fingers crossed, maybe we’ll see some deals around the time of Ubuntu Server Edition 10.04’s scheduled April 2010 launch. But if those server hardware relationships don’t materialize he won’t press the panic button. The reason: He thinks Canonical’s cloud strategy — built around Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud — represents a back door into the server market. See more of Joe's reasoning at the link.

http://www.workswithu.com/2010/01/25...ware-partners/

Ubuntu Unleashed 2010 Edition Review

The Linux Blog takes a look at the Ubuntu Unleashed 2010 edition. The author found themselves turning to their bookshelf when a re-install was needed, and found "Ubuntu Unleashed 2010 Edition" coming their aid. The author notes, "Normally by the time a book hits my shelf the material is outdated, not necessarily useless, just not the most up to date. This is an exception. The Ubuntu Unleashed 2010 Edition was updated with an Ubuntu 9.10 DVD and a “Free Upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04″ which I found out that if you buy the book before the end of 2010 you can get an upgrade kit in the mail."

In the author's opinion the book is packed full of information, 32 chapters and a hefty appendix. The author felt that the book was well written, and would be of interest to Linux users in general, and not just Ubuntu users. Looking a handy reference book for 2010? Check out the full article and see if this book would make great edition to your bookshelf.

http://www.thelinuxblog.com/ubuntu-u...edition-revie/

Ubuntu Could Profit From Both Yahoo, Google

Joe Panettieri of Works With U takes a look at Canonical's relationship with both Google and Yahoo. He notes that it is a balancing act between the two, finding ways to financially aid the continuation of Ubuntu.

Panettieri when looking for the why this change is being made, sites Rick Spencer's (Canonical Desktop Manager) January 26th, announcement on the ubuntu-devel mailing list: "“I am pursuing this change because Canonical has negotiated a revenue sharing deal with Yahoo! and this revenue will help Canonical to provide developers and resources to continue the open development of Ubuntu and the Ubuntu Platform. This change will help provide these resources as well as continuing to respect our user’s default search across Firefox.”"

Canonical is under contract with Google to help in the development of Chrome OS. And now it has a financial arrangement with Yahoo to promote the Yahoo search in the Firefox search bar. How much the two will help is unknown. The following link has the Panettieri's full article as well as the link to Rick Spencer's announcement.

http://www.workswithu.com/2010/01/26...+(Works+With+U)

Ubuntu: Enterprise Management Getting Easier?

Joe Panettieri of Works With U asks the question, "Are Ubuntu servers and desktops easy for enterprises to manage?" The answer appears to be "maybe". More IT specialists are getting on board, such as Bomgar, Kaseya, Likewise Software, Groundwork Open Source and Canonical itself.

Panettieri notes that Canonical offers Landscape - a remote management platform and Landscape Dedicated Server - and on-premise solution. He outlines 5 contributions to making enterprise management easier in his article.
  • Ubuntu Support
  • Kaseya and Kasey2
  • Likewise Software
  • Landscape
  • Bomgar

However, he also mentions that it's too soon to tell what effect it will have on acceptance. see the his article and links to those contributions at:

http://www.workswithu.com/2010/01/24...+(Works+With+U)

The choices inside Ubuntu

Hearing that the next Ubuntu release will use Yahoo! as the default search engine in Firefox leaves me with a twinge of uneasiness. This bloggers misgiving -- and it's a small one -- is not so much with the decision as with why it was made. In itself, the decision is trivial enough. If you dislike Yahoo!, you can easily change the default by going to the search engine field in the upper right corner and clicking on the icon and choosing Manage Search Engines from the drop-down menu. The reason for the change is that Canonical has negotiated a revenue sharing deal with Yahoo, and this revenue will help Canonical to provide developers and resources to continue the open development of Ubuntu and the Ubuntu Platform. This change will help provide these resources as well as continuing to respect our user's default search across Firefox. Some people will object to the deal automatically, because, last year, Microsoft emerged as one of Yahoo's major partners. But that seems a relatively remote concern. What makes me uneasy is that the change is apparently being done solely for business reasons. This blogger understands that Canonical is searching for the road to profitability, but Foss isn't suppose to be like that, and neither is Ubuntu.

http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online...-inside-Ubuntu

Apple’s iPad vs Notion Ink’s Adam tablet with Ubuntu: battle of two worlds

Sola believes that the new iPad was received with mixed feelings by the IT savey community. The main problem is that the tablet is just not as revolutionary as many expected it would be. It keeps many of the limitations of the iPhone (no multitasking, tightly controlled app-store), and doesn’t provide impressive new features which could keep the balance. On the other hand, Ubuntu on the Adam can run any full-desktop or command line Linux/ARM software from the Ubuntu ARM repositories. This is a huge selection of software and includes powerful applications like OpenOffice, GIMP and others. These may not be optimized for the touch screen interface but the Adam’s backside trackpad can help using them in tablet mode and in docked mode you will be able to use a USB mouse and keyboard just like with a netbook. Moreover, Ubuntu is completely free of limitations so you will be able install whatever software you want.

http://soltesza.wordpress.com/2010/0...of-two-worlds/

In Other News

NZ school ditches Microsoft and goes totally open source

A New Zealand high school running entirely on open source software has slashed its server requirements by a factor of almost 50, despite a government deal mandating the use of Microsoft software in all schools. Albany Senior High School in the northern suburbs of Auckland has been running an entirely open source infrastructure since it opened in 2009. The 230-pupil school was set up to follow open learning principles, offering large "learning commons" areas where multiple classes interact rather than conventional classrooms and setting aside one day each week for pupils to work on self-driven research projects. The implementation uses Ubuntu on the desktop.

http://www.cio.com.au/article/333686...ly_open_source

Full Circle Magazine #33

Full Circle Magazine, Issue #33 is now available.

In this Issue:
  • Command and Conquer.
  • How-To : Program in Python - Part 7, Create A Media Center with a Revo, Ubuntu and Boxee, and The Perfect Server - Part 3.
  • My Story - Ubuntu in Public Education, and Why I Use Linux.
  • Review - Exaile.
  • MOTU Interview - Didier Roche.
  • Top 5 - Synchronization Clients.
  • Ubuntu Women interview with Jane Silber, Ubuntu Games and all the usual goodness!

Get it while it's hot: http://fullcirclemagazine.org/

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ub...ry/000851.html

Also, of note is the recent cross promotion efforts of Ubuntu User and Full Circle Magazine. To find out more information check out Ubuntu-user.com - http://ubuntu-user.com/Online/Blogs/...ircle-Magazine

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Monday, February 1, 2010

==== Security Team Catch-up ====
  • Start: 18:00 UTC
  • End: 18:30 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: nothing formal, just a weekly catch-up.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

==== Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting ====

==== Developer Membership Board ====
  • Start: 15:00 UTC
  • End: 16:00 UTC
  • Location: None listed as of publication
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

==== Desktop Team Meeting ====

==== Kernel Team Meeting ====
  • Start: 17:00 UTC
  • End: 18:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

==== LoCo Teams Meeting ====
  • Start: 18:00 UTC
  • End: 19:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-locoteams
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

==== EMEA Membership Meeting ====

==== Community Council Meeting ====

==== Ubuntu Beginners Team Meeting ====

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

==== Server Team Meeting ====

==== Cameroonian LoCoTeam monthly IRC meeting ====

==== Foundation Team Meeting ====
  • Start: 16:00 UTC
  • End: 17:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

==== QA Team Meeting ====

==== Edubuntu Meeting ====

Thursday, February 4, 2010

==== Ubuntu Java Meeting ====
  • Start: 14:00 UTC
  • End: 15:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

==== Ubuntu Translations Meeting ====

Friday, February 5, 2010

==== Lucid Weekly Release Meeting ====

Saturday, February 6, 2010

==== BugJam ====
  • Start: 21:00 UTC
  • End: 23:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-us-dc and #ubuntu-bugs
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

==== DC Loco IRC meeting ====
  • Start: 23:00 UTC
  • End: 24:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-us-dc
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

Sunday, February 7, 2010

==== Ubuntu UK LoCo Team Meeting ====

Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10, 9.04 and 9.10

Security Updates

Ubuntu 6.06 Updates

Ubuntu 8.04 Updates

Ubuntu 8.10 Updates

Ubuntu 9.04 Updates

Ubuntu 9.10 Updates

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Additional Ubuntu News

As always you can find more news and announcements at:

http://www.ubuntu.com/news

and

http://fridge.ubuntu.com/

Conclusion

Thank you for reading the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter.

See you next week!

Credits

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:
  • John Crawford
  • Dave Bush
  • Craig A. Eddy
  • Amber Graner
  • And many others

Glossary of Terms

1. IRC - Internet Relay Chat.
1. PPA - Personal Package Archive - http://help.launchpad.net/PPA
1. QA - Quality Assurance.
1. UEC - Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.
1. UTC - Coordinated Universal Time: UTC replaced GMT as the basis for the main reference time scale or civil time in various regions on January 1, 1972.

Other acronyms can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/glossary

Ubuntu - Get Involved

The Ubuntu community consists of individuals and teams, working on different aspects of the distribution, giving advice and technical support, and helping to promote Ubuntu to a wider audience. No contribution is too small, and anyone can help. It's your chance to get in on all the community fun associated with developing and promoting Ubuntu. http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate

Feedback

This document is maintained by the Ubuntu Weekly News Team. If you have a story idea or suggestions for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list at https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/lis...untu-news-team and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Ideas. If you'd like to contribute to a future issue of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, please feel free to edit the appropriate wiki page. If you have any technical support questions, please send them to ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com.

Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ ]]> Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter johnc4510 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1395326 Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #177 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1389677&goto=newpost Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:08:33 GMT Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #177 for the week January 17th - January 23th, 2010. In this issue we cover: Developer Membership Board election results, Ubuntu User Days A Big Success, Bugs and hugs, Ubuntu Developer Week: January 25th – January 29th, 2010, Canonical Blog: ISV... Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #177 for the week January 17th - January 23th, 2010. In this issue we cover: Developer Membership Board election results, Ubuntu User Days A Big Success, Bugs and hugs, Ubuntu Developer Week: January 25th – January 29th, 2010, Canonical Blog: ISV support for Ubuntu Server Edition widens, January 20th America's Membership Review Board Meeting, Ubuntu LoCo Re-Approval Process, LoCo Stories: the Ubuntu Honduras School Tour, Launchpad 10.1 roll-out 09.00-11.30 27th January 2010, Anonymous Access to the Launchpad Web Service API, Introducing Ubuntu Electronics Remix 9.10, and much, much more!

UWN Translations
  • Note to translators and our readers: We are trying a new way of linking to our translations pages. Please follow the link below for the information you need.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeekly...r/Translations

In This Issue
  • Developer Membership Board election results
  • Ubuntu User Days A Big Success
  • Bugs and hugs
  • Ubuntu Developer Week: January 25th – January 29th, 2010
  • Canonical Blog: ISV support for Ubuntu Server Edition widens
  • January 20th America's Membership Review Board Meeting
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • Ubuntu LoCo Re-Approval Process
  • LoCo Stories: the Ubuntu Honduras School Tour
  • Launchpad 10.1 roll-out 09.00-11.30 27th January 2010
  • Anonymous Access to the Launchpad Web Service API
  • The Planet
  • In the Press & Blogosphere
  • Introducing Ubuntu Electronics Remix 9.10
  • Upcoming Meetings & Events
  • Updates & Security

General Community News

Developer Membership Board election results

As elected by the Ubuntu development team, the members of the Developer Membership Board are now:

They will serve for a 1 year term, helping to welcome new Ubuntu developers into the project, after which another election will be held.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ub...ry/000667.html

Ubuntu User Days A Big Success

Ubuntu User Days just wrapped up, and what a day it was. Lasting 15 hours, and with each presenter giving a one hour presentation, it made for a very lively day over all. The awesome crew of Ubuntu User Days[1] did a great job of organizing, and when one presenter turned up sick and another couldn't get on line, duanedesign and starcraftman volunteered to take over those two spots to keep the ball rolling. As usual with these on line sessions, the audience with their great questions and feedback was what made the day a success. If you weren't able to attend, or missed a session you wanted to be at, you can find the logs of all the sessions here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UserDays/Logs/January2010

1. http://princessleia.com/journal/?p=2547

Ubuntu User Days was also conducted in Spanish and reports that their sessions were just as productive and fun and the English version. You can can find a report of that sessions success here: http://blog.diegoturcios.net16.net/?p=372 and the logs of the day here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DiaDelUsuari.../LogsEnero2010

http://princessleia.com/journal/?p=2547

Bugs and hugs

We’re pleased to be participating in an Ubuntu Bug Day on Thursday 28 January 2010 and hope you will join us as we triage ubuntuone-client bugs.

Ubuntu Bug Day is also known as HugDay. So what exactly is a HugDay?
  • The HugDay is a special day where the Ubuntu Community comes together with a shared goal of triaging a specific package or set of packages. Working together allows us to share knowledge and give some much needed assistance to the Ubuntu Developers. The term HugDay is a spin on BugDay but every time someone triages a bug, then someone else should hug him/her. Why? This is a very special way for us to tell everyone that we love contributions! And triaging bugs is a really big contribution.

We look forward to working with you on triaging some Ubuntu One bugs and giving numerous digital hugs along the way!

http://voices.canonical.com/ubuntuone/?p=200

Ubuntu Developer Week: January 25th – January 29th, 2010

Are you interested in learning how to help make Ubuntu better? If you are saying yes, then you need to check out Ubuntu Developer Week which starts on Monday.. There will be 25 workshops over the course of five days covering things like fixing bugs, hacking launchpad, server testing and many more. You can get more information about Ubuntu Developer Week by visiting the UDW wiki page at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDeveloperWeek.

http://chrisjohnston.org/2010/ubuntu...anuary-29-2010

Canonical Blog: ISV support for Ubuntu Server Edition widens

This week were very pleased to see three companies behind three great technologies announce their support for Ubuntu. In the run up to the LTS in late April we are keen that our users are aware of the growing number of application options that they can have on their preferred operating system. These will be a mix of open source solutions, the ‘enterprise’ version of open source solutions or proprietary applications. A healthy and growing ecosystem is an obvious prerequisite for any successful OS.

PGP has extended its enterprise-focused data protection solutions to include Ubuntu in addition to Windows and Mac. For companies running a mixed environment (an increasingly common scenario as Ubuntu begins to find a place in businesses as a replacement technology) security and administrative concerns are reduced as the same tool can used whatever the choice of OS.

GroundWorks Open Source announced its support for Ubuntu Server. GWOS’ excellent systems monitoring and management tools will give users a great, low-cost option for their Ubuntu deployments, something that is very important as Ubuntu Server is pushed into larger and more critical use environments.

Finally LikeWise and the Ubuntu development team were able to confirm the latest version Likewise Open 5.4 has made the alpha of Ubuntu 10.04 where it will undergo rigorous testing for stability before confirmation in the release. Users from 9.10 and 8.04LTS will have a direct upgrade path at release and a version supported for five years when they do.

I hope you take time to consider these options as part of your Ubuntu deployment. Expect to see more of these types of announcements as we broaden support for the 10.04 release. We will also be able to give details soon of some programs for the ISVs themselves to more easily come on board with the LTS release and understand why it is a great addition to their portfolios. We’re looking well set for a great release.

http://blog.canonical.com/?p=318

January 20th America's Membership Review Board Meeting

The approval results from the July 15th Americas Membership meeting are as follows:

Diego Turcios - Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DiegoTurcios Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~diegoturcios

Diego is currently acting as the team contact for the Honduras LoCo team. Diego has also contributed to many events in Honduras including FLISOL, Ubuntu Global Bug Jam, two release parties, and many more. He is also a
member of the Spanish Translators team and Beginner's team.

José Ernesto Dávila Pantoja - Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Josernesto Launchpad: http://launchpad.net/~josernestodavila

José is a member of the Nicaraguan LoCo team where he helps administer both the IRC channel and mailing list. He has given many presentations at conferences such as FLISOL and other events including the first event organized by the Nicaraguan LoCo team.

Allen Dye - Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Iowan Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~Iowan

Allen is a active member of the Ubuntu Forums where he spends much of his time providing support to other users. And he has provided a lot of it, 3600 posts in the last 10 months. His support work does not end at the Forum; he is also active on Launchpad Answers and is working towards becoming a member of the Ubuntu Answers team.

Sergio Andres Meneses Echavéz - Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SergioMeneses Launchpad: http://www.launchpad.net/~sergiomeneses

Sergio is a member of the Colombian LoCo team where he a member of the team council and support team. He helped organize and execute the Ubuntu Global Bug Jam in Colombia and has also worked with such events as FLISOL and Free Software Symposium.

Victor Vargas - Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/VictorVargas Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~kamus

Victor is a member of the Chilean LoCo team and has been active within the team by doing training events on bug triage. Additionally, he is working on HUUF, Help Ubuntu Users in Forums, which will help users provide useful information about their computes to those who are trying to help.

Cristian Barahona G. - Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CristianBarahona Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~cristianvirtual

Cristian is another member of the Chilean LoCo team and is on their LoCo council along with being its team contact. He was one of the creators of FUCH, which is the precursor to HUUF. He has also been active in the
community by presenting at and working booths at conferences.

Jamal Fanaian - Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/jamalta Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~jamalta

Jamal is a member of the Florida US LoCo team where he has attended many events Bug and Packaging Jams, release parties, and other meetups. He has been working with the Ubuntu Learning team and has contributed code to Launchpad. He has also submitted patches to Gwibber and created GrooveNotify, which integrates Grooveshark with the Ubuntu notification system.

Please join the Americas Board in welcoming these great new Ubuntu members!

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ub...ry/000843.html

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats
  • Open (76540) +5 # over last week
  • Critical (36) -1 # over last week
  • Unconfirmed (39567) -40 # over last week

As always, the Bug Squad needs more help. If you want to get started, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

Translation Stats Karmic

1. Spanish (11152) -134 # over last week
2. French (43408) -647 # over last week
3. Brazilian Portuguese (44737) -193 # over last week
4. Swedish (66419) +5 # over last week
5. English (United Kingdom) (67787) -1095 # over last week

Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala", see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/karmic/

Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week

Ubuntu Brainstorm is a community site geared toward letting you add your ideas for Ubuntu. You can submit your own idea, or vote for or against another idea. http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/

LoCo News

Ubuntu LoCo Re-Approval Process

From the Ubuntu LoCo Council. For the Lucid cycle we have undertaken to look at the re-approving all approved Ubuntu LoCos. This was discussed at UDS Lucid in November.(https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubu...-council-plans)

We thought it best to publicize and inform everyone about the re-approval process of a LoCo. It was decided back at UDS to start this process. It gives us a chance to see how LoCos are doing, if they need
a hand in areas and to give you a chance to give us some feedback.

How it will work, for all teams which have been approved over 2 years, a member of the LoCo Council is selected to be the point of contact with the LoCo team for re-approval, they will contact your Team contact / leader.

They will attempt to contact you three times over one month. Once contact is made, you will then invite you to the next available IRC meeting. Using the method you were originally approved, https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoGettingApproved. We just want to see how you’ve progressed, your activity, and if you’ve had any issues, how you’ve handled them.

During this time, we may need to have more IRC meetings, but we will let you know when you are requested to attend. The re-approval process is documented and the information is on the wiki https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoCouncil/LoCoTeamReApproval

The members of the current LoCo Council you will hear from are regarding this re approval process are

· Laura Czajkowski (czajkowski)
· Alan Pope (popey)
· Jan Claeys (janc)
· Efrain Valles (effie-jayx)
· Christophe Sauthier (huats)
· Chris Crisafulli (itnet7)

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lo...ry/004139.html

LoCo Stories: the Ubuntu Honduras School Tour

This week we’re travelling to Central America to visit the Ubuntu Honduras team, a LoCo true to the Ubuntu ethos and a mission of their own: encourage and promote the use of free technology through Ubuntu in the Republic of Honduras.

One of the most special activities the Honduran team organises to pursue this noble goal are their Ubuntu School Tours, a series of events where they travel to schools around the country and talk to students about Ubuntu. The idea is to promote the use of Open Source and raise awareness on its significance among students and teachers in educational institutions.

In words of Diego Turcios, the team contact lead, the idea is that “more and more people in Honduras learn about Ubuntu and Free Software and see it as an excellent Operating System option for laptops, desktops and servers. We also want to show that with Ubuntu everyone, be it home users or companies, have all the applications they need, such as a web browser, word processor, spreadsheet editor, instant messaging and others.”

Despite the political unrest in the country, which forced them to cancel many presentations, they showed their strong determination and great team organization in running two School Tour events last year, both with great success. In particular, they were at the Master School and at the Tridentino Institute in San Pedro Sula, the second biggest city in Honduras, in which we’ll focus to learn more on the event.

It was in the morning on the last Saturday of September last year, and during that time, they managed to provide a very complete overview of the team, Ubuntu and Open source in general. They started with a brief introduction to the Honduran team, followed by a presentation about what Open Source is and why Ubuntu is the OS of their choice. Next up was a demonstration of free office suite applications, GNU/Linux distributions and the four Free Software freedoms, followed by a showcase of Compiz which left more than one with their mouths open. The grand finale was an installation workshop and Q&A session, after which they left Ubuntu installed in one of the school’s machines and gave them a LiveCD to share.

From the testimonials of those present it was a very interesting experience: 20 students attended, showing a lot of enthusiasm in the subject, and who were in the end invited to join the LoCo and to participate in future team activities, which was also received with great interest.

All in all, another great example of the Ubuntu LoCo culture and spirit!

Links for the Honduras Team:

http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/1974

Launchpad News

Launchpad 10.1 roll-out 09.00-11.30 27th January 2010

Launchpad’s web interface will be read-only, and all other parts of Launchpad offline, for roughly two and a half hours from 09.00 UTC on the 27th January 2010.
  • Starts: 09.00 UTC 27th January 2010
  • Expected back: 11.30 UTC 27th January 2010

This is for the roll-out of our Launchpad 10.01 code. https://launchpad.net/launchpad-proj...ilestone/10.01

We’ll post details of what’s new after the release.

http://blog.launchpad.net/notificati...h-january-2010

Anonymous Access to the Launchpad Web Service API

You asked for it and we’ve delivered. Your launchpadlib scripts can now get read-only access to the Launchpad web service API without going through any authorization process. Previously, to authorize your script, you had to open a web page in the end-user’s web browser and get the user to click a button. Now, you only have to go through that process if you want to access someone’s private data or modify the Launchpad dataset on their behalf.

If you’re using the latest version of launchpadlib (1.5.4), you can log in anonymously with the login_anonymously helper method. You just have to pass in a string identifying your client, and the name of the Launchpad server you want to access.
  • from launchpadlib.launchpad import Launchpad
  • launchpad = Launchpad.login_anonymously("my client", "edge")
  • print launchpad.bugs[1].title
  • # Microsoft has a majority market share'

(That code also illustrates how the latest version of Launchpadlib lets you specify a short string like “edge” instead of having to importing a constant like EDGE_SERVICE_ROOT.)

If you’re using an older version of launchpadlib, you can log in anonymously using the login helper method. You can get anonymous access by passing in empty strings for the token string and access secret:
  • from launchpadlib.launchpad import Launchpad, EDGE_SERVICE_ROOT
  • launchpad = Launchpad.login("my client", "", "", EDGE_SERVICE_ROOT)
  • print launchpad.bugs[1].title
  • # Microsoft has a majority market share'

Right now, anonymous access only works on Launchpad’s ‘edge’ and ’staging’ instances. It’ll be installed on production at the end of the month, with the release of Launchpad 10.01.

http://blog.launchpad.net/general/an...eb-service-api

The Planet

Daniel Hobach: Django and the LoCo Directory

If you’re confronted with the task of setting up some kind of website that allows some kind of user interaction, you suddenly have two tasks: first find out which of the many “web frameworks” you want to use and second to implement the whole thing.

There was a couple of reasons why I thought I’d try out Django. First I like using python whenever possible, but there’s also been recommendations of friends and coworkers that were far beyond usual fanboyism. Almost everybody told me to have a look at the Django tutorial, so I checked it out, played around with it and I very much liked what I saw. The definition of the application and its structure was very clear and structured and easy to extend.

What I liked most about it was that even though I knew I didn’t know much, I never felt stupid but got lots of stuff done. Of course working together with very clever and very enthusiastic people, I quickly found out how to things more elegantly and easily. Django takes care of all the “regular” cases you might encounter and you’ll quickly solve all of them.

The LoCo Directory journey was a lot of fun up until now and I’m sure it’ll stay that way. We all learned a lot and together we quickly went from our first objective (replace long list of LoCos – done) to our second one (implement event handling system – almost done).

If you want to join in and help out, have a look at the bugs, translations or branches and talk to us on #ubuntu-locoteams.

http://daniel.holba.ch/blog/?p=564

I’m very happy that one of our team, Daviey, decided to give a session about Django and Ubuntu Developer Week next week! Make sure you’re there!

Dustin Kirkland: 35,000-Core Ubuntu Farm Renders Avatar

I just attended Paul Gunn's talk at LCA2010, entitled:
  • Challenges in Data Centre Growth (or, "You need how many processors to finish the movie???")

Paul is a Systems Administrator at Weta Digital, a Wellywood digital effects studio here in Wellington, New Zealand. Check out some of the feature films that Weta Digital has worked on, and I think you'll recognize a few. District9, Day the Earth Stood Still, Jumper, King Kong, Lord of the Rings, Fantastic Four, Eragon, X-Men, i-Robot. Wow!

It was a great talk, about the type of data center needed to render special effects in today's blockbuster movies. They have a 2 Petabyte disk array, 10gbps networking, and 35,000 cores (4,000+ HP blades) in their data center, and still it takes 48 hours to render some of their graphic sequences.

According to Paul, Ubuntu is at the core of all of this, running on all of the rendering nodes, and 90% of the desktops at Weta Digital. He notes that his farm (he calls it a "render wall") is in fact an Ubuntu Server farm, and not RHEL as he has seen reported in the media.

Here's a couple of articles on Weta Digital's data center and their work on Avatar:

http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2010/...r-renders.html

Jorge Castro: Docs for upstreams and how to work with upstreams

As part of my cycle goals I have (mostly) finished the cut of the upstream section of our wiki docs. Sometimes I get a mail from an upstream project who has no idea how Ubuntu works, but they want to get their software into Ubuntu to get it out in people’s hands. They have no idea what SRU, PPAs, and all that other stuff is.

This document kind of gives you an overview of Ubuntu development that you as an upstream care about. So if you’ve ever run into “hey how do we get this fix into Ubuntu?” then this will steer you in the right direction. Ubuntu development can be a bit daunting to step your foot into so I hope this helps people figure out what they need to do to get in Ubuntu.

The next bit is the “Adopt a Package“. The great bit about this is there’s already people out there doing this, so we’re putting together a place where we can share information on best practices so we can be more efficient and weeding through old bugs and making sure that upstream bugs go to the right place. We’ve also put together a nice set of recommendations on how to talk to upstreams to make the work easier for everyone.

http://castrojo.wordpress.com/2010/0...ith-upstreams/

Thierry Carrez: Nominate your favorite Ubuntu Server papercuts

An Ubuntu Server LTS release stays around for 5 years, so during the development cycle there is an increased focus in QA, bugfixing and stability. During Lucid UDS in Dallas, we discussed of various ways of translating that effort into clear actions. One of those discussions was geared towards improving the Ubuntu Server user (sysadmin) experience: we could focus on fixing lots of minor annoyances, low-hanging-fruit bugs that traditionally get less attention than others. On the footsteps of the excellent One hundred papercuts project (from the User experience team), this project was named Server papercuts.

This project is led by the Ubuntu Server community, for the Ubuntu Server community. We discussed the implementation details during our weekly IRC meetings, a specific Launchpad project was created, together with a team to triage the candidates (with a cool badge).

Now it’s time to nominate your personal pet bug, your favorite minor annoyance, your preferred PITA ! Here is the process to follow:

1. If the papercut isn’t already filed as an Ubuntu bug in Launchpad, file a bug against the affected Ubuntu package
2. Look up the bug you want to nominate as a Server papercut, then click on “Also affects project”
3. Click “Choose another project” and type in “server-papercuts”, click “Continue”
4. Click on “Add to Bug report”

That’s it ! Your bug will now show up on the Server papercuts buglist and we’ll Confirm or Invalid-ate it soon, when we start getting a good list.

Here are a few guidelines on what makes a good Server papercut:
  • Bug affects a server package
  • Bug has an obvious and easy fix
  • Bug makes the life of the sysadmin more miserable

Here are a few guidelines on what doesn’t make a good Server papercut:
  • New features
  • Large-scale improvements that affect multiple packages
  • Your solution is likely to result in a new papercut for someone else

For more details, complete acceptation criteria is described in the project spec. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ServerPapercutsSpec

http://fnords.wordpress.com/2010/01/...ver-papercuts/

Laura Czajkowski: New flavors of Ubuntu being developed in Ireland

Laura Czajkowski recently popped down to the BT Young Scientist Exhibition for secondary and high school junior students in Dublin. Walking through the exhibition she stumbled upon Zorin OS, an OS that Kyrill and Artyom Zorin have developed based on Ubuntu, which caught her eye. She stopped and asked Kyrill and Artyom Zorin a few questions which she shares in this article. Czajkowski thinks it’s pretty amazing that a 4th year and a 2 year student came up with this idea, and implemented it. She would still prefer to work on the idea of getting more people using Ubuntu, then having it themed to look more windows like, but Czajkowski admits that she can see the reasoning behind it. Laura also thinks it’s pretty amazing these developments are happening in her back yard, here in Ireland, and makes her rather proud, that if students can do this, what else we can do?

http://www.lczajkowski.com/2010/01/2...ed-in-ireland/

In The Press

New Low-Latency Ubuntu Server Build Proposed

Michael Larabel of Phoronix tells us that Canonical's Tim Gardner is seeking comments regarding a new build of Ubuntu Server that he is proposing. Canonical is considering another build of Ubuntu Server (there is already Ubuntu Server 32-bit and 64-bit along with specialized builds for cloud computing with Amazon EC2 and UEC), but this one would be specialized for just 64-bit platforms that have low-latency requirements and on power consumptive systems. This new build would be tuned for tasks like Asterisk that have low-latency requirements and where the current Ubuntu Server builds may not be sufficient. Though from the initial RFC, it may just end up being an alternate kernel that can be selected during the installation process of Ubuntu Server. The thread regarding low-latency improvements for Ubuntu Server and this new build can be found on the ubuntu-devel mailing list. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item&px=Nzg5Mw

Analysis: Will Ubuntu Take Windows 7 In Speed War?

ChannelWeb's Edward F. Moltzen thinks that the Ubuntu development community spent much of the last year losing a lot of momentum, as Microsoft gave birth to its Windows 7 operating system and its latest releases of the Linux OS failed to overly impress. Among the many differences between Microsoft and the Ubuntu community is speed. While it took more than three (painful) years between the launch of Windows Vista and the launch of Windows 7, the Ubuntu folks are already in full stride toward the next desktop release of the Linux-based desktop OS, version 10.04 -- code-named "Lucid Lynx." Ubuntu leader Mark Shuttleworth has said, "Speed remains our goal." And it's a good goal to have. In earlier versions of both Windows and Ubuntu, we've seen Ubuntu overtake Windows in overall system performance -- including speed. The Linux OS still has an edge in boot time, and that edge could grow significantly. http://www.crn.com/software/22230115...VN?cid=CRNFeed

Canonical to bundle CodeWeavers CrossOver?

Tom Wickline of Wine-Reviews notes that in a official post on the Ubuntu Forums, user Matthew Helmke asks users to complete a survey with the applications they would like to see in the upcoming versions of Ubuntu. Among the applications one can find: Spotify, Pandora, Hulu, Skype, WoW, Picasa, Adobe Photoshop, Apple iTunes, CodeWeavers and a couple more applications. Wickline wonders if Canonical has plans to bundle CodeWeavers CrossOver with forthcoming releases? Most of the applications CodeWeavers already supports and the one or two apps they don't officially support will already run as Unsupported apps in CrossOver now. The only change would be for CodeWeavers to officially support the apps in a upcoming release. Follow this link for more information, and to a link to the survey: http://www.wine-reviews.net/wine-rev...CrossOver.html

Linux Mint 8 vs Ubuntu 9.10

LinuxBSDos.coms says that on the surface, trying to write a comparative review of Linux Mint 8 (Helena) and Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic koala) would seem like a pointless exercise. After all, Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu. So what’s the point? Well, as in cases such as this, where one product is based on another, there begins to emerge – at some point – a product differentiation. In the case of Mint and Ubuntu, that differentiation has been apparent almost from the first year of Mint’s existence. They compare the benefits and similarities of both distros, and they think that Karmic Koala (Ubuntu 9.10) is better in in terms of the Updates Manager, Games, USB Startup Disk Creator, and Cloud Service. Follow this link for their complete break down of both Linux Mint 9 and Ubuntu 9.10. http://linuxbsdos.com/2010/01/16/lin...s-ubuntu-9-10/

Ubuntu primes music service

Alastair Otter of MyBroadbandNews notes that although it is not yet official, Ubuntu's next release looks likely to include a music store service similar to Apple's iTunes. The first hint that Ubuntu developers were considering a music store came in September last year when Canonical chief Mark Shuttleworth announced plans for Lucid Lynx, the next version of Ubuntu. At the time Shuttleworth made vague references to an Amazon- and iTunes-like music store for the next release. Since then the noise around an Ubuntu music store has grown into a coherent direction and a number of details suggest that the Ubuntu One Music Store is on track for possible inclusion in Lucid Lynx which is scheduled to be released in April this year. Ubuntu's Lucid Lynx will be released in April this year when questions around the Ubuntu One Music store will be clarified but for now it does appear that Ubuntu's music plans are more than just speculation. http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Software/11114.html

In The Blogosphere

Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Wallpapers - The Ubuntu Artwork Pool

The OMG! Ubuntu! site takes a look into the artwork pool for Lucid Lynx and the various Wallpapers that available. There are links to the "Ubuntu Artwork" site on Flickr where many of wallpapers you'll seen in Lucid will come from. The article highlights 8 wallpapers that according to the article were "just too darn wonderful not to mention". Don't want to wait for Lucid to grab those Wallpapers, the article links to the Wallpapers on Flickr where you can download, comment, rate, or as in the case of this article, blog about them. http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/01/u...d+(Omg!+Ubuntu!)

Ubuntu Help Centre To Get Major Overhaul For Lucid?

The folks over at the OMG! Ubuntu! site talk about whether "The Ubuntu "Help and Support" system may be getting a overhaul in time for Lucid." They point out that developers are wondering what the majority of users think about "Help and Support". "Developers feel the majority of users are either simply unaware that the help system exists or find it overly complicated to navigate and draw information from." OMG! Ubuntu! points out that users see this option when they do fresh install but after that a large number of users for get that "Help and Support" application is there, sitting that users will use Google or head straight to the forum for answers instead. "As the discussions surrounding the documentation are still on-going and due to the fact that Lucid is fast approaching, these changes may have to sit out and be included in Lucid +1." http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/01/u...d+(Omg!+Ubuntu!)

The Ubuntu Effect

Ed Hewitt, Yet Another Tech & Gaming Blog, writes about the effect Ubuntu has on users even when they don't know what they are using. Ed mentions that his brother was using a windows XP machine, when XP broke, Ed installed Ubuntu for his brother as a work around until he could get and XP CD and fix it for him. Ed points out that when he went to reinstall XP his brother was quite happy with the "thing I had put on his laptop" (his [Ed's brother's] words)." Ed notes his brother really just wanted to be able to get on Facebook and MSN and was happy with the speed of Ubuntu over Windows, "Fair point. If all he wants is a Web browser, why do you need Windows. It seems Ubuntu is having an effect on people, who don't even know what it is!" http://www.edhewitt.co.uk/2010/01/11/the-ubuntu-effect/

In Other News

Introducing Ubuntu Electronics Remix 9.10

Markus Nestor, of Softpedia, introduces Ubuntu Electronics Remix, 9.10, "We are proud to present today a new Ubuntu-based (or Remix) Linux distribution, this time for electronics. Called Ubuntu Electronics Remix, or UER for short, it is based on the popular Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) operating system and comes as a Live DVD ISO image with lots of free electronics software. Except for the electronics software, everything else is exactly the same as in the original Ubuntu 9.10 distribution. The goals of the Ubuntu Electronics Remix operating system are to make Ubuntu easy to use for electronics, to promote the use of 100% and open source applications for electronics, to create a Live CD with electronics programs, and provide good tutorials for using Ubuntu Linux for electronics design. "The software included in Ubuntu Electronics Remix is Free Open Source Software with developed active communities. This means you get all the power of electronic software with all the advantages of open sources software." – was stated on the project's website. You can also access the home page, if you want to get involved in this project!" There is a list of applications that are included in UER 9.10 as well as screen shots of the electronics software as well as a link to download the UER 9.10. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Intro...0-132890.shtml

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Monday, January 25, 2010

==== Ubuntu Developer Week ====

==== Security Team Catch-up ====
  • Start: 18:00 UTC
  • End: 18:30 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: nothing formal, just a weekly catch-up.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

==== Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting ====

==== Technical Board Meeting ====
  • Start: 15:00 UTC
  • End: 16:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

==== Ubuntu Developer Week ====

==== Desktop Team Meeting ====

==== Kernel Team Meeting ====
  • Start: 17:00 UTC
  • End: 18:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

==== Server Team Meeting ====

==== Foundation Team Meeting ====
  • Start: 16:00 UTC
  • End: 17:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

==== Ubuntu Developer Week ====

==== QA Team Meeting ====

==== Edubuntu Meeting ====

Thursday, January 28, 2010

==== Ubuntu Java Meeting ====
  • Start: 14:00 UTC
  • End: 15:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

==== Ubuntu Developer Week ====

==== MC Meeting ====
  • Start: 17:00 UTC
  • End: 18:00 UTC
  • Location: Not listed as of publication
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

Friday, January 29, 2010

==== Ubuntu Developer Week ====

==== Lucid Weekly Release Meeting ====

Saturday, January 30, 2010

==== Ubuntu Manual Meeting ====

Sunday, January 31, 2010

==== Ubuntu IRC Council Meeting ====

Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10, 9.04 and 9.10

Security Updates

Ubuntu 6.06 Updates

Ubuntu 8.04 Updates

Ubuntu 8.10 Updates

Ubuntu 9.04 Updates

Ubuntu 9.10 Updates

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You can always find older Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter issues at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter

You can subscribe to the Ubuntu Weekly News via RSS at:
http://fridge.ubuntu.com/uwn/feed

Additional Ubuntu News

As always you can find more news and announcements at:

http://www.ubuntu.com/news

and

http://fridge.ubuntu.com/

Conclusion

Thank you for reading the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter.

See you next week!

Credits

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:
  • John Crawford
  • Dave Bush
  • Craig A. Eddy
  • Amber Graner
  • And many others

Glossary of Terms

1. API - Application Programming Interface.
1. IRC - Internet Relay Chat.
1. ISV - Independent Software Vendors.
1. LTS - Long Term Support. - Said of a release that will receive support for 3-years/5-years rather than the typical 18 months.
1. OS - Operating System.
1. QA - Quality Assurance.
1. UDS - Ubuntu Developer Summit.
1. UEC - Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.

Other acronyms can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/glossary

Ubuntu - Get Involved

The Ubuntu community consists of individuals and teams, working on different aspects of the distribution, giving advice and technical support, and helping to promote Ubuntu to a wider audience. No contribution is too small, and anyone can help. It's your chance to get in on all the community fun associated with developing and promoting Ubuntu. http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate

Feedback

This document is maintained by the Ubuntu Weekly News Team. If you have a story idea or suggestions for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list at https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/lis...untu-news-team and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Ideas. If you'd like to contribute to a future issue of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, please feel free to edit the appropriate wiki page. If you have any technical support questions, please send them to ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com.

Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
{{attachment:CCL.png}}
[[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ |Creative Commons License 3.0 BY SA]] ]]> Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter johnc4510 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1389677 Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #176 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1385351&goto=newpost Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:10:26 GMT Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #176 for the week January 10th - January 16th, 2010. In this issue we cover: Ubuntu 10.4 Lucid Lynx Alpha 2, Ubuntu Developer Week, Ubuntu User Day, new Ubuntu Women leadership, and Free Culture Showcase. *UWN Translations* * Note to translators... Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #176 for the week January 10th - January 16th, 2010. In this issue we cover: Ubuntu 10.4 Lucid Lynx Alpha 2, Ubuntu Developer Week, Ubuntu User Day, new Ubuntu Women leadership, and Free Culture Showcase.

UWN Translations
  • Note to translators and our readers: We are trying a new way of linking to our translations pages. Please follow the link below for the information you need.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeekly...r/Translations

In This Issue
  • Ubuntu 10.4 Lucid Lynx Alpha 2
  • Ubuntu Developer Week
  • Ubuntu User Day
  • New Ubuntu Women leadership
  • Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase
  • Kernel Bug Day
  • Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha 2 Removes HAL
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • The Planet
  • In the Press & Blogosphere
  • Upcoming Meetings & Events
  • Updates & Security

General Community News

Ubuntu 10.4 Lucid Lynx Alpha 2 Released

Welcome to Lucid Lynx Alpha 2, which will in time become Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

Pre-releases of Lucid are *not* encouraged for anyone needing a stable
system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even
frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu developers and
those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs.

Alpha 2 is the second in a series of milestone CD images that will be
released throughout the Lucid development cycle. The Alpha images are
known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD build or installer bugs, while
representing a very recent snapshot of Lucid. You can download it here:

See http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Mirrors for a list of mirrors.

Alpha 2 includes a number of software updates that are ready for wider
testing. Please refer to http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/lucid/alpha2 for
information on changes in Ubuntu.

This is quite an early set of images, so you should expect some bugs. For a
list of known bugs (that you don't need to report if you encounter), please
see:

http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/lucid/alpha2

If you're interested in following the changes as we further develop
Lucid, have a look at the lucid-changes mailing list:

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/lucid-changes

We also suggest that you subscribe to the ubuntu-devel-announce list
if you're interested in following Ubuntu development. This is a
low-traffic list (a few posts a week) carrying announcements of
approved specifications, policy changes, alpha releases, and other
interesting events.

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/list...devel-announce

Bug reports should go to the Ubuntu bug tracker:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ub...ry/000665.html

Ubuntu Developer Week

Welcome to the Ubuntu Developer Week! We will have one week of action-packed sessions from Jan 25th 2010 to Jan 29th 2010!

Ubuntu Developer Week is a series of online workshops where you can:
  • learn about different packaging techniques
  • find out more about different development teams
  • check out the efforts of the world-wide Development Community
  • participate in open Q&A sessions with Ubuntu developers
  • much more…
All sessions will happen on IRC, and the best way to join is to use Lernid[1]. (There are other ways[2] too.)

If you’re not comfortable yet asking all your questions in English, we will have a couple of people helping to translate your questions and translating back the answers. Have a look at the Ubuntu Developer Week page to see how it works.

Like the sound of it? DIGG IT![3]

1. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Lernid
2. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDeveloperWeek/JoiningIn
3. http://digg.com/linux_unix/Announcin...veloper_Week_5

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDeveloperWeek

Announcing Ubuntu User Day - January 23, 2010

The Ubuntu User Days Team would like to announce the first Ubuntu User Day,
on January 23, 2010. This will be a very informative one day session geared
towards beginner and intermediate Ubuntu users, as well as people who are
interested in using Ubuntu. We have 14 classes covering topics ranging from
installing Ubuntu, finding help, equivalent programs, using IRC, getting
involved in the Ubuntu Community and more. We have enlisted the help of many
talented people to lead these classes throughout the day.

These classes will be taught in #ubuntu-classroom with questions being asked
in #ubuntu-classroom-chat on irc.freenode.net. Please visit
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/UserDays for a complete class list and schedule of
classes.

There is also a Spanish version of Ubuntu User Days being offered on
January, 23, 2010. Please visit Día Del Usuario Ubuntu at
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DiaDelUsuarioUbuntu for more information on the
Spanish Ubuntu User Day!

Please take a few minutes over the next week or so to promote the Ubuntu
User Day to people you know, in your Lo``Co Team, in your blog, or any other
resources you may have access to.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ub...ry/000836.html

Kernel Bug Day - Tues 19 Jan, 2010

This is a friendly reminder that we're starting up Kernel Bug Day's
again for the new year. Don't know what a Kernel Bug Day is [1]?
This is the perfect opportunity to find out what it's all about.

The next Kernel Bug Day will be held Tues. 19 Jan, 2010 [2]. We'll be
focusing on bugs with a closed upstream bug watch. These would be good
targets in Launchpad to overlook and possibly close as well. Please
join us Tuesday in the #ubuntu-kernel IRC channel on Free``Node as
we tackle this list of bugs together

1. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/BugDay
2. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/BugDay/20100119

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ke...ry/008307.html

Ubuntu Server team: Amazon Web Services(AWS) client libraries feedback needed

The Ubuntu Server team is looking for feedback on which AWS client libraries should be made available as part of Ubuntu. Making it easy to develop applications that use AWS and UEC services is one of the goal of the Ubuntu Server team. The AWS client libraries blueprint focuses on listing existing projects and then choose which ones should be packaged for Lucid.

If you know of great projects in PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby, Java (or any other platform) that help using AWS and UEC services such as EC2 or S3 make a note of them in the wiki page.

http://ubuntuserver.wordpress.com/20...ent-libraries/

Ubuntu Women Leadership Appointment Announcement

Speaking on behalf of the Community Council, Elizabeth Krumbach is happy to announce that they have selected Amber Graner for the 6 month leadership position in the Ubuntu Women project. Congratulations to Amber and a huge thanks to Melissa and Penelope for putting their names forward as candidates. We hope the goals and visions presented on all three of their wiki pages[0][1][2] can be incorporated moving forward and it was a delight to see the wealth of community support for all three of these fantastic candidates.

0. Amber: http://wiki.ubuntu-women.org/UbuntuW...uary2010/Amber
1. Melissa: http://wiki.ubuntu-women.org/UbuntuW...ry2010/melissa
2. Penelope: http://wiki.ubuntu-women.org/UbuntuW...y2010/Penelope

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ub...ry/002422.html

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats
  • Open (76535) -100 over last week
  • Critical (37) +/-0 over last week
  • Unconfirmed (39607) -161 over last week

As always, the Bug Squad needs more help. If you want to get started, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

Translation Stats Karmic

1. Spanish (11286) -182 over last week
2. French (44055) -20 over last week
3. Brazilian Portuguese (44930) -118 over last week
4. Swedish (66414) -26 over last week
5. English (United Kingdom) (68882) +292 over last week

Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala", see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/karmic/

Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week

Ubuntu Brainstorm is a community site geared toward letting you add your ideas for Ubuntu. You can submit your own idea, or vote for or against another idea. http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/

Launchpad News

Launchpad maintenance 20th January 2010

Launchpad may be unavailable for up to 30 minutes from 11.00 UTC on Wednesday the 20th January, for planned hardware maintenance.
  • Starting: 11.00 UTC 20th January 2010
  • Expected back before: 11.30 UTC 20th January 2010

We are, though, hopeful that we can complete the maintenance without taking Launchpad off-line, in which case you will not notice any effect to your service.

http://blog.launchpad.net/notificati...h-january-2010

The Planet

Jono Bacon: Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase - Lucid Edition

Once again the Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase is taking submissions for possible inclusion in the Showcase. This time photographs to be used as wallpaper are being handled by Ubuntu Art Team who already has a competition going.

Entering the showcase is simple:
  • Your submission must be one of the following:
  • Audio Entries – no larger than 1MB in size – made available in Ogg Vorbis format.
  • Video Entries – no larger than 2.5MB in size – made available in Ogg Theora format.
  • All entries must be licensed and distributable under the Creative Commons Attribution Share``Alike or Creative Commons Attribution license.
  • Upload your submission somewhere online (there are lots of free hosting solutions available such as archive.org). Do not email any of the organisers or judges with your submissions.
  • Add your entry to one of the submission tables at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuFreeCultureShowcase.
  • When the deadline for submissions closes, our panel of judges will pick a shortlist, and the Community Council will then pick the final winners from the shortlist.

The deadline is 28th February 2010 and you can read more about it at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuFreeCultureShowcase.

http://www.jonobacon.org/2010/01/12/...lucid-edition/
In The Press

Plymouth In Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha 2: Dead Simple

Michael Larabel of Phoronix recalls that a month ago he wrote about Plymouth getting pulled into Ubuntu 10.04 LTS after Canonical ended up flip-flopping on their decision to use this Red Hat created splash program that leverages kernel mode-setting to provide a pleasant and flicker-free boot experience while being highly customizable and extensible. After the Plymouth packages got pulled into Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Phoronix also provided a video that showed it running on the "Lucid Lynx", but it was pretty boring with just a static Ubuntu logo and at the time some warning messages bled into the background. Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha 2 was this week and it featured Plymouth instead of U``Splash. The udev warning messages have since been cleared up, but the artwork remains the same. Included in the article is a photograph of this Plymouth plug-in as of today's Ubuntu Lucid packages, which will hopefully be enhanced by the artwork team before Ubuntu 10.04 LTS final is released in April. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item&px=Nzg4MQ

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" Alpha 2 Released

Phoronix's Michael Larabel reports that on January 14, 2010 Canonical and the Ubuntu development community announced the release of Lucid Lynx Alpha 2, or more easily known as Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 2. This second alpha release of Ubuntu 10.04 delivers on Plymouth integration, the likewise-open package for Active Directory authentication has received a major upgrade, KDE 4.4 RC1, Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud improvements, and many other improvements to this popular Linux distribution. Details regarding Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha 2 can be found on the Ubuntu web-site. The Lucid blueprints on Launchpad provide additional information regarding the features expected for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. Lastly, the mailing list announcement has links for the different distributions in the Ubuntu family that have been upgraded to a Lucid Lynx Alpha 2 status, such as Ubuntu ARM, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item&px=Nzg4Mw

Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha 2 Benchmarks With Early Fedora 13 Numbers

Michael Larabel of Phoronix tells us that with Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha 2 having been released, he couldn't resist but to run some new benchmarks of the Lucid Lynx after our original tests last month found Ubuntu 10.04 was off to a poor performance start. In some areas the performance of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 2 remains lower than in Ubuntu 9.10 -- largely due to performance regressions upstream in the Linux kernel. Overall, there are both good and bad performance improvements for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 2 in relation to Ubuntu 9.10. Most of the negative regressions are attributed to the EXT4 file-system losing some of its performance charm. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...d_alpha2&num=1

Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha 2 Removes HAL

Linux Pro Magazine's Kristian Kissling notes that "HAL" unfortunately isn't the heinous supercomputer from Kubrick's film 2001, but Ubuntu's Hardware Abstraction Layer between Ubuntu's hardware and software. It has now disappeared entirely from the current Ubuntu 10.04 test version, and it's function being taken over among other things by Device``Kit. The advantage to this, according to the official announcement, is that Ubuntu has a faster boot and startup from hibernate time. Removing HAL has the consequence that Wacom drivers can no longer be used for drawing tablets. Follow this link for more information: http://www.linuxpromagazine.com/Onli...-2-Removes-HAL

In The Blogosphere

Five Essential Ubuntu Features by Christopher Tozzi

Christopher Tozzi, WorksWithU list five essential features that Ubuntu offers out-of-the-box that he has yet to see in any version of Windows.

1. Hardware autoconfiguration
2. Multiple desktops
3. Software repositories
4. ssh client
5. No antivirus

Tozzi states, "I’d like to emphasize again that I’m no Windows-hater. For some users, Windows makes more sense than Ubuntu." and he continues with, "...I can’t imagine myself living without Ubuntu (or a similar Linux distribution, since the features listed above are not unique to Ubuntu itself) ever again..." http://www.workswithu.com/2010/01/14...+(Works+With+U)

Tegra 2 supports Ubuntu Linux

Interested in touchscreen technology? See what soltesza has to save about the Ubuntu Linux supported Nvidia devices. "According to this faq-like post on the official Nvidia Tegra developer site, Ubuntu Linux is supported as an operating system for Tegra 2 based devices. "This is extremely important for both Nvidia and Linux in general since a lot of IT-savvy people find Android insufficient for the netbook form factor and ask for a “real” Linux on these very promising devices. A simple Gnome desktop or Ubuntu’s Netbook Remix user interface may not be perfect for a touchscreen operated tablet but is very useable with the traditional laptop form factor. Some of the Tegra 2 tablets will add a pointer device as well, in addition to the touchscreen (like the Notion Ink Adam) so these machines will be easy to use with a customized, full Linux desktop." http://soltesza.wordpress.com/2010/0...-ubuntu-linux/

Ubuntu v. Macintosh and Windows

Don Watkins, on his blog - Country Contemplative, compares and contrasts Ubuntu, Macintosh, and Windows. Watkins states that, "it [Macintosh] is Linux with great multi-media...I love Photo Booth, iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD all great software products that work together rather seamlessly. But are they worth double the price of a Dell for the average person." Watkins has this to say about Windows, "I think Microsoft has gotten the bugs out of Vista in Windows 7. So far it’s quite easy to operate and doesn’t have all the “yes/no” permission questions of Vista. I got Windows 7 Premium because I wanted to experiment with their multimedia tools too." And with regards to Ubuntu, Watkins notes the plus side for him, "with Ubuntu and Linux in general and this is where Linux really kicks both Windows and the Mac is you have the same OS whether mainframe, desktop, laptop or mobile device and it’s just plain stable. " Watkins makes some interesting predictions on what he sees as the future for Ubuntu, Macintosh and Windows. Take a look and see if you think he's got it. http://countrycontemplative.wordpres...10/01/10/1963/

Canonical, IBM: Ubuntu Will Counter Windows 7 At Lotusphere

The VAR Guy, gives the scoop on Canonicals effort to counter Microsoft's Windows 7 push at IBM's Lotusphere conference in Orlando next week. Sounds interesting, "IBM has previously stated Smart Work can save customers up to 50 percent per seat on software costs vs. traditional Microsoft-based desktops. Canonical says the solution includes Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop Edition and Lotus Symphony, which includes word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations, fully supported by Canonical at $5.50 per user, per month based on 1000 seat deployment."
The VAR Guy states that it is important to keep this upcoming push in perspective as well, "The company’s channel remains a work in progress, and the next three months will rank among the most critical in Canonical’s history — due to the forthcoming Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) release in April 2010 and the ongoing CEO transition, which should be completed by March 2010." http://www.thevarguy.com/2010/01/14/...at-lotusphere/

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Monday, January 18, 2010

==== Security Team Catch-up ====
  • Start: 18:00 UTC
  • End: 18:30 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: nothing formal, just a weekly catch-up.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

==== Community Council Meeting ====
==== Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting ====
==== Developer Membership Board ====
  • Start: 15:00 UTC
  • End: 16:00 UTC
  • Location: Not listed as of publication
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

==== Desktop Team Meeting ====
==== Kernel Team Meeting ====
  • Start: 17:00 UTC
  • End: 18:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

==== LoCo Council Meeting ====
Wednesday, January 20, 2010

==== Server Team Meeting ====
==== Foundation Team Meeting ====
  • Start: 16:00 UTC
  • End: 17:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

==== QA Team Meeting ====
==== Edubuntu Meeting ====
==== Americas Membership Board Meeting ====
Thursday, January 21, 2010

==== Ubuntu Java Meeting ====
  • Start: 14:00 UTC
  • End: 15:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

Friday, January 22, 2010

==== Lucid Weekly Release Meeting ====
  • Start: 16:00 UTC
  • End: 17:30 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: http://wiki.ubuntu.com/ /ReleaseTeam/Meeting/2010-01-22

Saturday, January 23, 2010

==== Ubuntu User Day ====
Sunday, January 24, 2010

==== Ubuntu Gaming Team Meeting ====
  • Start: 20:00 UTC
  • End: 22:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10, 9.04 and 9.10

Security Updates

Ubuntu 6.06 Updates

Ubuntu 8.04 Updates

Ubuntu 8.10 Updates

Ubuntu 9.04 Updates

Ubuntu 9.10 Updates

Subscribe

Get your copy of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter delivered each week to you via email at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-news

Archives and RSS Feed

You can always find older Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter issues at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter

You can subscribe to the Ubuntu Weekly News via RSS at:
http://fridge.ubuntu.com/uwn/feed

Additional Ubuntu News

As always you can find more news and announcements at:

http://www.ubuntu.com/news

and

http://fridge.ubuntu.com/

Conclusion

Thank you for reading the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter.

See you next week!

Credits

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:
  • John Crawford
  • Craig A. Eddy
  • Dave Bush
  • Amber Graner
  • Liraz Siri
  • And many others

Glossary of Terms

1. HAL - Hardware Abstraction Layer
1. IRC - Internet Relay Chat.
1. LTS - Long Term Support. - Said of a release that will receive support for 3-years/5-years rather than the typical 18 months
1. UEC - Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.

Other acronyms can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/glossary

Ubuntu - Get Involved

The Ubuntu community consists of individuals and teams, working on different aspects of the distribution, giving advice and technical support, and helping to promote Ubuntu to a wider audience. No contribution is too small, and anyone can help. It's your chance to get in on all the community fun associated with developing and promoting Ubuntu. http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate

Feedback

This document is maintained by the Ubuntu Weekly News Team. If you have a story idea or suggestions for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list at https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/lis...untu-news-team and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Ideas. If you'd like to contribute to a future issue of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, please feel free to edit the appropriate wiki page. If you have any technical support questions, please send them to ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com.

Except where otherwise noted, content in this issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License BY SA http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ ]]> Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter johnc4510 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1385351